Dad Calls the Bank

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In the mid-1990s, I randomly asked my father how much money he kept in his savings account.

He answered immediately, citing an amount precise to the penny.

Surprised, I asked how he could possibly know the exact number.

“I called the bank this morning,” he said.

“You happened to call today?”

“I call every day,” he said.

He said it the way you talk about tying your shoes or brushing your teeth. He was clearly unaware that not everyone would go to such lengths.

“Sometimes you want to know if a check has been cashed,” he explained.

At this point, my mom jumped in: “The basic story is that he obsesses over numbers.”

I’ve made an effort over the past several years to ask my parents how they spend their time and there have been revelations.

Many of the surprises involve patterns like my mom washing sheets every Monday and dad calling the bank. They were deep-seated habits so woven into the fabric of life that they were never mentioned.

I knew that my father kept track of his accounts because he would take us to the Carteret Savings & Loan on Saturday mornings.

Years later, the bank rolled out technology that allowed clients to call in and listen to a voice recording of their balances and recent transactions.

That came in handy when Dad would send us checks in the mail. My brother-in-law deposited his money immediately. My brother did so a few days later. I put mine in a drawer.

Dad would call the bank every day until the checks cleared or he couldn’t take it anymore and he would ring me up to ask what I had done with the check.

One of the lessons I take away from this story is that anything is possible if it’s important to you.

And if it’s important you build a habit around that activity

My father wanted to keep track of his savings, so he did what was necessary, driving to the bank each week.

Technology made it possible to access the info via a phone call.

These days he swipes an iPad to check the account.

What hasn’t changed is my father’s need to know.

He still tends to check the balance most days.

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

NO SITTING ON CHURCH STEPS: I cannot get over the fact each day this church drags out a sign that tells people not to sit on the steps.

COMMUNITY: Whenever you think you are alone in the world, just remember there is a community for everyone, even followers of Heidegger!

GRATTITUDE: Whenever you think anything is difficult or challenging, remember that it will probably more so in a number of years.

WRITING ONLINE: Wisdom from Nicolas Cole about writing online.

IS MCKINSEY FUNNY? Havard Business Review interview with Jerry Seinfeld that is (unintentionally) funny. It gets at a profound truth, however: Most everything worth doing is hard.