You get what you pay for...... Right?.....................

About a month ago I got two copies of the magazine Smart Money. A couple of days after receiving them, I remembered that I had filled out some survey that had given me a choice of three magazines I could pick from as a thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey. I truly believe this is the first time I actually got what I was promised. I added them to my pile of unread magazines and there they lay. A few days back, I received another one in the mail, and this one I actually picked up and skimmed through.

In one of the articles they tore apart furniture from Crate and Barrel, and Pottery Barn. In case you don't watch television, over the past few years these two companies gained notoriety as charaters from shows like Friends "just had to have items from these stores." I guess if the furniture is grand enough for television, then it is grand enough for the real, up and coming comers of our country. Acording to the article, while it looks grand on the outside, and has extreamely grand price tags, the construction of the pieces tested leave something to be desired. This got me to thinking...

Are we ever like that as people? Grand looking on the ouside, thanks to expensive clothes, hair styles, and make-up, but not so grand underneath it all because of our attitude.

I love the story that my oldest told me about the time they were painting at her Sorority house. One of her sisters had to borrow paint clothes because she didn't have ANY old clothes. My daughter was sharing this story with me because she couldn't imagine not having at least a few old clothes laying around waiting to be useful for a messy chore. The best part of the story though, was after telling me the first part, she ended by saying the girl without any old clothes was one of the nicest people she had ever met, down to earth, helpful, and kind. The girl was also slightly embarrassed to have to admit that she didn't own "paint clothes," but took the ribbing she got in stride, laughing at herself along with the group. Her character is definitely more than the sum of her expensive outer parts.

What would people find if they started peeling off your veneer? Do your relationships stand up to the test of time, or do they end up wobbly and creaking like the bed tested from Crate and Barrel? Is your character made up of a long lasting hard wood, or particle board? I would have to admit that in my teens and twenties, I had a much higher percentage of particle board in my character, but have worked hard over the years to be able to offer longer lasting, richer character traits to my relationships. The higher the quality I offered, the higher quality I got back in return.

I think a much more acurate statement might be "You get what you ask for and give," instead, of what you pay for. If you find things are not going as you would like in your life/relationships, stop and take a look at what you are offering to those relationships. If you offer a person that is filled with love and respect for themself, then you are bound to give love and respect, and receive it in return. This way, when you are a ninty-year-old antique, rocking on the front porch, you will have lots of antique relationships to keep you company on your porch!