That faded NYC Metro Card had been in my billfold since late 2019, at least. How can I be sure? Because I haven't been on NYC public transit since before Covid-19. How much was left on this antique I'd carried around now for more than two years? Given how worn it was - meaning it had been used at least several times pre-Covid - the fact that I never laid out more than $20 on any Metro Card since they began being widely used and, my normal habit was to spend each one I purchased down to as close as possible to $0 before buying another, maybe $5, max?
And yet, there that Metro Card remained until I had this conversation with myself a few days back:
How long are you going to carry that old thing around? Until I can use it up.
And when will that likely be? Doesn't matter, it's still got $$ left.
Can't you afford to sacrifice $5 (or less)? Well, Dad or Mom would say money doesn't grow on trees, it pays to watch every penny, and getting through the Great Depression was no walk in the park.
Yeah, but wait, haven't they both been gone a long time? And, aren't you more than financially solvent? Yeah, they're both long gone and .. well, OK.
Even after that conversation concluded, it still wasn't easy for me to discard that relic. But I did. It made me neither happy nor sad doing so. It made me glad Dad and Mom taught me about money, proud of what working hard my whole life has given me, grateful for my good fortune and any role luck has had in where I've landed. Good enough.
LOL! I have one too and like you haven't used it since sometime in 2019. I guess I will toss it as well. With the Omicron variant it doesn't look like I am going to NYC anytime soon. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteInes; Glad I'm not alone on this one. Truth be told, I'm reasonably sure I'd carried around that particular Metro Card a great deal longer than indicated in my post.
DeleteGood morning, Pat and Happy New Year. Funny that you wrote about a Metro Card as I recently had to replace the one that had been in my wallet for more time that I remember. This past summer my daughter and son in law took my grandsons to their first baseball game. My son in law is a big Phillies fan and my daughter, taking after her her 'born in the South Bronx' father is, of course, a Yankees fan. NY won out and Rose and I were invited to go with them. So, NJ Transit to NY Penn Station and then take the subway up to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium. Once we arrived in the subway station I pulled, peeled actually, my Metro Card out of my wallet and went to add funds for the ride. Sadly, it was not to be as the card was rejected and I had to get a new card. It's not as colorful as my old one, the remaining funds on the older card - no idea how much was on it - were lost, and I now have a new card in my wallet. I do hope I'm able to have as many interesting and fun times with this one as I did with the former one. Maybe not what you were looking for - I have a tendency to do that at times (lol) - but I did enjoy reading about a somewhat shared experience with a Metro Card.
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
"Anonymous" Bob; Happy New Year to you as well. I enjoyed your story, especially the part about "peeling" the ancient Metro Card out of your wallet; sounds like yours might have been as relic to compete with mine. In fact, as I indicated to Ines above, I'm sure my card was much older than I indicated in my post.
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