Fuel for Thought

Don’t Panic

I signed into my bank account to check on a refund from a recent paypal purchase. Before I could even focus on the account page, the line for the grand total looked completely different from what should have registered as familiar territory. It was a disorienting difference like accidently walking into the women’s restroom when the men’s room was the proper destination. The grand total wasn’t that big of a difference from what it should have been, but I had just passed one of those major thresholds like going from $99 to $100. You struggle to make the step, so it’s very noticeable when you lose the marker that you thought you had obtained. Regaining my balance, staring right in my face in the most recent group of transactions were pending purchases from places I do not go. I had walked in on a robbery in progress. The hardest part of shooing these guys out and locking everything down was getting past the big sister of the girl that’s in my gps. You know the one—recalculating, recalculating… Except big sister thinks she’s smart, because she thinks she understands what you are saying. The real live bank girl had everything fixed within minutes.

The past few years I’ve been consolidating and simplifying all my money matters. I’ve been minimizing everywhere possible and was to the point of eliminating the last, unused card account, but I kept dragging my feet on this last one. And now I’m glad I held on to my extra credit card. With the primary card closed, the extra card will hold me over until I get the replacement card. New standard op--two card minimum.

eb