There was a time in my life when my mama, dearly departed now, and I talked about the wisdom of giving money.

At the time of our conversation, a frequently aired television commercial touted the ‘one size fits all’ benefits of a gift certificate to their store. Mother. thinking the only natural progression of that thought made money the more perfect ‘one size fits all’ in that money could go anywhere the beloved or barely liked gift recipient wanted. Too. cash is the only monetary way to shop and remain an unknown entity or otherwise nameless person.

In the retail world, national and international stores have vast numbers of ways to document shopping styles and interests, if they have the information found on a personal check. They have even more information if the would be customer uses a credit card.  That was before cell phones, computerized side arms, so to speak.

Now, the big retailers have ‘readers’ in many places all over the stores. These readers track the customers shopping styles, the places stopped, the items touched and at all times identity and the various shopping history of the cell phone.

Mother and I did not imagine these times and department store styles to manipulate and track the customer. Our talk focused on the heart, the joy of the gift and its suitability to most any situation.

She remembered when looking for a dollar bill she found a twenty-dollar bill and spoke of the joy and excitement of suddenly having nineteen dollars more than she expected to have. Another time she found a five dollar bill! To her, it was a thrilling discovery of many possibilities.

“Who”, she wondered aloud to me. “Wouldn’t be thrilled to open a gift and find the money?” Neither of us could imagine an answer.