The Value of Souvenirs
I was pretty groggy as we came up to the border around noon on Thursday-- we had been driving for 24 hours straight. Rummaging through our receipts to find the few that weren’t for food or gas, I started writing down each amount to add them up to a somewhat accurate total.
I barely heard the voice that was saying “...plus 7, does that make 26 for me?” I tossed a Subway receipt on the ground and started asking how much the slate and slate pencil were that we bought in De Smet, the Little Town on the Prairie. In the background, “When I get home, I’ll go right upstairs and get the 26 dollars to give to Dad.”
I finally clued in- my youngest son was adding up what he owed us, writing it down and planning to pay us back without being asked. I was missing a chance to train him in math skills! But wait, there was still a chance. He was totalling US dollars and was going to pay in coins from his allowance, loonies and twonies. “Let’s figure out how much it is in Canadian dollars first. For each of the 26 dollars, you need to add 25 cents. How many quarters in each dollar?”
“Okay, now, how many groups of four dollars are there in 26?” (wait three minutes, with discussion) “Great, so now add six and a half to 26.” (wait two minutes, including an argument on who knows the correct answer) “So, you can get 32 and a half dollars to pay Dad back when we get home.”
I almost missed it!
