I pick up pennies everywhere I go, its just a thing I do. Somebody dropped it, not thinking it was worth a whole lot, but I like them a lot. Dirty, shiny, bent or messed up I always do it. Sometimes I find a nickel, or a dime or maybe even a quarter. Once I even found a silver dollar in front of the grocery store. Shady is too lazy to pick up pennies though, he is too busy imagining his next adventure to worry with such as that.

I have saved pennies my whole life since I was real little, still do. I remember last year, wanting a new fishing tackle box real bad, and I didn’t have any money to get one but I remembered my penny stash. Uncle Muddy bought me a big glass piggy bank, it must have held three gallons, and it was slam full of pennies from where I had saved them up.

Mamaw saw me with my pennies on the floor of my room, and I was counting them up. She asked me, “Son what you counting pennies for? You trying to get something you want, or you just commencing inventory?” I told her how bad I wanted that tackle box at the hardware store and how it was $40 plus tax.

She saw how bad I wanted it, so that afternoon she went to her junk drawer and got some penny rolls that were empty and helped me count out $40. I didn’t even empty half of that huge piggy bank and I had the money. She said I needed to figure up tax, so she sat down with me, and we figured it would be $47 dollars tax and all. I had about ten dollars in paper money and at least five dollars in silver money of various types in that piggy bank too.

When we counted out the remaining pennies, I still had over half that piggy bank left from slam full. She took me to the bank, and they weighed the penny rolls and gave me the paper money I needed. Mamaw then took me to the hardware store to get me the tackle box, and they had put it on sale for $37 since it was the last one, and nobody must have wanted that tackle box.

Mamaw said “God knew you was wanting that fishing tackle box mighty badly, and He gave you a heavenly discount, because He hears, and He loves you so much. So be sure to tell Him thank you.” I bowed my head and said a prayer, still clutching that fancy tackle box full of fishing lures and such, and told God thank you over and over. Mamaw grinned and said, “I guess you are a-listenin’ ain’t you? In church AND in Sunday school.”

Find a penny, pick it up…