WHERE
YOU SLIPPED
---------------------
M married H. At the end of the wedding, M’s mother gave
her a newly opened bank savings book with a R1000 deposit
amount.
Mother: "Take this savings book. Keep it as a record
of your marriage life. When there's something happy and
memorable happened in your new life, put some money in.
Write down what it's about next to the line...
The more memorable the event is, the more money you can
put in. I've done the first one for you today. Do the others
with your husband. When you look back after years, you will
know how much of happiness you've had.'
M
shared this with H when getting home. They both thought
it was a great idea and were anxious to know when the second
deposit can be made.
This
was what they did after a certain time:
- 7 Feb: R100, first celebration for H after marriage
- 1 Mar: R300, salary raise for M
- 20 Mar: R200, vacation trip to Bali
- 15 Apr: R2000, M got pregnant
- 1 Jun: R1000, H got promoted
...
and so on...
However,
after years, they started fighting and arguing for trivial
things. They didn't talk much. They regretted that they
had married the most nasty people in the world... no more
love... Kind of typical nowadays, huh?
One day M talked to her Mother:
'Mom, we can't stand it anymore. We agree to divorce. I
can't imagine how I decided to marry this guy!!!'
Mother: 'Sure, girl, that's no big deal. Just do whatever
you want if you really cannot stand it. But before that,
do one thing first. Remember the savings book I gave you
on your wedding day? Take out all money and spend it first.
You shouldn't keep any record of such a poor marriage.'
M thought it was true. So she went to the bank, waiting
at the queue and planning to cancel the account.
While
she was waiting, she took a look at the book record. She
looked, and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all the
previous joy and happiness just came up her mind. Her eyes
were then filled with tears. She left and went home. When
she was home, she handed the book to her husband, and asked
him to spend the money before getting divorced.
The
next day, H gave the book back to M. She found a new deposit
of R5000. And a line next to the record: 'This is the day
I notice how much I've loved you through out all these years.
How much happiness you've brought me.' They hugged and cried,
putting the savings book back to the safe.
Do
you know how much money they had saved when they retired?
I did not ask. I believe the money did not matter any more
after they had gone through all the good years in their
life.
"When
you fall, in any way, Don't see the place where you fell,
Instead see the place from where you slipped. Life is about
correcting mistakes."