How many things can we hide?

This could be happening down the street from where you live. It happened to me.

This is my version of a true story with almost all accurate details. My friend met someone years ago who was a younger sister of a close friend. The sisters grew up with the bare necessities, but they dreamed big. The younger sister, whom this story is about, envisioned a life of some affluence, cloth napkins, and an abundance that happened naturally that was surely coming her way.

She did her part, got an education and married a man. They had a typical life and they divorced. She raised two young daughters while she was still young herself. She did what she needed to and it worked. Time went on and she coloured up her dream to another level; she added a rich, nice new husband that adored her and her two daughters. And lo and behold the dream became true. (How this part occurred is a little hazy in my friend’s memory.)

Who is real?

 Husband number 2, owned real estate, spoiled his young wife and daughters, bought and owned companies and they lived a happy life. He ordered one of those monster billboards that you see on the side of the road, announcing the birth of their newest daughter. Everyone going by the sign at rush hour, oohed and aahed. What a guy he must be for such a lavish display!

Then one day, he didn’t feel well and he died. The still young (all things being relative) wife now had three daughters. The oldest two, admitted that they were odd and on the way to crazy. “Again?”, they said to each other, “how could this be?” they laughed. The youngest, was not odd or crazy yet, as she had had a different upbringing that only involved matching place settings and holidays in hot climates.

After husband #2 died, many things became apparent. His businesses had been a bust, there was no real money, and now the bankers were hounding her again. Different reasons, but the same story as she’d heard years ago with husband #1. The older daughters, laughed some more and said “ha-ha, back to the Thrift Store!” The most recent (now deceased) husband had always been hiding something; he was not really wealthy, inside or out it seems. It appeared to the world that the widow was back to where she had left.

But once again, the mother of three daughters, faced the barrier and pushed. She was wealthy inside because she had a dream. She had also grown accustomed to cloth napkins and good chocolate.

Her name is Catherine, and like a cat she knew that she had nine lives. She has landed on her feet this time too.

Wealth comes in a variety of forms. See words from Darren Hardy, success.com, for a good reminder to look behind the obvious.