Free?

What does it mean to be free? What a loaded question, eh?! It means I can take care of myself and my family and still be able enjoy a few pleasures in life. That sure sounds a lot like "money = happiness." Well, yeah, I suppose that is true. It is surely not the only measure or path to happiness, though. I subscribe to the theory of "if you don't think money doesn't buy happiness, you've never been poor."

Well I’ve been poor.
I have been without necessities and have been through some rough times both as a child and an adult. I’ve also been fairly comfortable financially at times. I would not call myself a materialistic person. As I said, I enjoy nonessentials sometimes to make life a little easier and fun. But extremely lavish things don’t appeal to me. Excessively expensive cars, jewelry, clothes or furniture are not my thing at all. They usually seem overly lavish and just not worth the money. Give me good quality, reasonably-priced stuff any day.

My dream shopping experience consists of finding great quality stuff or really neat things for bargain prices. Shopping for jewelry never leads me into a “real” jewelry store, instead I shop catalogs and fashion jewelry stores. For shoes my favorite places include Payless… I’m a huge fan of buying cheap, trendy shoes at discount stores that will last a couple of years while they are in style and then by the time they are out of style, they are also worn out. If not, then I can donate them to Goodwill or some other charity.

But I digress. Freedom is such a many-faceted thing, there’s no way to describe the many ways one can experience it. Money issues are something on my mind a lot these days, so I guess that is what leads me to this description today. But it is by no means is this the only way to experience freedom.