Money Does Not Buy Happiness

Money does not buy happiness. Read more to learn how to make teletubbies memories with your children, which is worth more than money any day. Let’s start by making a point discussing another old childhood favorite tv show — Richie Rich.

More than 20 years ago, they remade one of my favorite cartoons, Richie Rich, into a movie staring Macaulay Culkin as the young Richie Rich.  I watched this movie over and over again.  I loved the cartoons when I was growing up and even read some of the comic books from which they stemmed.  In the 1994 movie, Laurence Van Dough attempts to kill off Richard Rich, Richie’s father, and seize control of their companies.  He is also looking for the Rich family vault so that he may steal their Billions of dollars.

Treasure your Priceless Possessions

Near the end of the movie, Richard Rich makes it home and is forced at gunpoint to open the family vault for Van Dough.  Once entering the vault, Van Dough finds that there is no money, stock certificates, bonds, gold, silver, or anything else he believes to be of value.  Instead, he finds a pair of baby socks, a baby carriage, an old wooden horse, a sombrero, a tricycle, and even an old college graduation gown, among other things.  Furious, Van Dough demands to know where all the money is and he is simply told, “In banks.”  Even more irritated, he asks why they saved all, “this junk!”  That is where the Rich’s have had enough.  They punch him in the face as they proclaim, “these are our priceless possessions!”

I have thought about this scene and this movie for many years.  I found it interesting that something coming out of Hollywood during that time would actually teach an interesting moral . . . Money does not have any real value.  Yes, it can buy you stuff, and can pay your bills.  Having a ton of money will make you “successful” in the eyes of the world, and most of us, at least at some point in our lives, wants to be rich.  The interesting thing is that you talk to people who have a lot of money, and they don’t consider themselves to be rich!  Rich is always an unobtainable goal in their mind!

Money Does Not Buy Happiness

John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil Company in 1870, (Standard was broken and is now modern day Exxon, Mobil, Amoco and Chevron oil companies.  These are still in the top 50 largest companies in the world!) was the wealthiest man in the world at the time.  Adjusting for inflation, he would still be the wealthiest man in the world today!  During an interview, he was asked by a journalist, “How much money is enough?”  He simply replied, “Just a little bit more.”

No, money is not where true “precious” things come from.  Money is not the things that we treasure when we are old.  It is the memories we have made, and the items that remind us of those memories that become precious to us.  The children in our lives will be the things that bring us the greatest joy.  I have never sat with an elderly person and heard them say, “I wish I had spent more time making money and less time with my kids.”  I have also never heard one say, “I wish I had never had a family.  They took me away from what is really important.”

Spend Time with your Children and Grandchildren

When my nieces were young, I spent as much time with them as I could.  One of my nieces was very into a television show called, “Teletubies.”  This show was the most popular show in Britain for a time and is exactly what you would expect from a terrible kids show that annoys any adult in at least 100 yards of the television.  Still, she loved is, and wanted her “Uncle Mark” to watch it with her.  I will tell you, when a three year old asks you to dance with her to the music of the Teletubbies, you dance with her to the music of the Teletubbies.  If you don’t, she pouts and cries until you do what she asks.  This little girl had me wrapped around her finger and she knew it!  But that is ok.  I danced with her the best I knew how.  I laughed, she giggled.  We had a great time until 30 minutes later, when the show was over.

I’m not sure if my niece remembers these moments.  I don’t know if she remembers making me dance with her or not.  I don’t know that she would even care about that today, now that she is an adult and has children of her own.  But I know that I remember.  When I think of those times, I smile and know that this is a memory that no one can take away from me.  No matter how old my niece gets, she will always be that 3 year old little girl that begged me to dance to a stupid television show with terrible music.

Memories are Priceless

This is one of my most precious things . . . This simple memory.  It reminds me of happier times when life was simple to understand.  It reminds me that sometimes all we have to do is to dance together on a green hill filled with flowers.  It reminds me that not everyone will yell at you for stepping on the flowers and that sometimes there is a “baby face in the sun” that smiles down on you and giggles at how goofy we are!

No matter what “material possessions” I own, or how much money I have, no one can rob me of this memory.  Memories will forever be more valuable to me  than all the money in the world.  No matter how my life ends, or when I die, I will go to my grave with a smile on my face knowing that, for a brief moment, I was everything to that little girl.  She has grown up to be a beautiful young adult now, and I hope one day, when I am old, she will dance with me to whatever terrible “old people” television show I have fallen in love with.  She will giggle.  I will laugh.  It will put a smile on my face once again.

Whatever you do, make sure you preserve all your memorable photos with your kids, and your embarrassing dancing videos in a time capsule for your child to view when he or she is older or graduates high school. What fun it would be to have your now, grown up child open their very own Baby Time Capsule filled with these memories and mementos you saved for them. Imagine if your teenager opened it at their graduation party with family and friends around. There would be a lot of laughs and stories happening in the room for sure. Get your own decorative Baby Time Capsule here to start saving these memories and mementos today.

What is your most favorite memory with your child? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark