Valentine Day Special! - 1

I'm not really a Valentine Day person..... simply because like many other occasions, it's become so commercialised that it's lost its real meaning. Anyways, over the last couple of weeks I've been receiving a few emails that shine some light on the meaning of "Love" - that most abused 4 letter word! I thought I'd run a short series based on these. Here goes No.1:

The Wedding Passbook

Monica married Nick this day. At the end of the wedding party,
Monica's mother gave her a newly opened bank saving passbook with a
$1000 deposit amount.

Mother: 'Monica, take this passbook. 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 Nick.
When you look back after years, you can know how much
happiness you've had.'

Monica shared this with Nick 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 certain time:

* 7 Feb: $100, first birthday celebration for Nick after marriage
* 1 Mar: $300, salary raise for Monica
* 20 Mar: $200, vacation trip to Bali
* 15 Apr: $2000, Monica got pregnant
* 1 Jun: $1000, Nick 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 nastiest people in the world.... no more love...Kind of typical
nowadays, huh?

One day Monica 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 can't stand it. But before that, do one thing first.
Remember the saving passbook 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.'

Monica 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 passbook 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 passbook to Nick, asked him to
spend the money before getting divorce.

The next day, Nick gave the passbook back to Monica. She found a new
deposit of $5000. 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 passbook 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 thru 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."