That One Time I Found $150 On The Bus

I remember the time when I found $150 on the school bus when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. I remember climbing into the bus and taking my usual seat. There was a white envelope wedged in between the seat and the side of the bus. When I looked inside I felt like I had won the lottery. My eyes lit up and my heart was pounding! I don’t think I had ever been personally acquainted with Mr. Grant before, let alone Benjamin Franklin.

When I got off at my stop my mom was there to pick me up, and as soon as we got in the car I told her what I had found. She was less excited and more perplexed, and when we got home she called the school. Together they decided (without consulting me) that I should give the money to the school to hold on to while they contacted the parents of kids who rode that bus. They said that if no one claimed it then by the end of the month I could have it. I don’t know how far away the end of the month was but I remember hoping against hope that no one would claim it. As we got closer to the end of May I remember my dad joking that it was probably drug money that some kid had stolen from their parents. The days went by slowly, but June 1st came around and no one had spoken up, which meant the money was mine! Or so I thought.

When I heard the news I was pretty excited. I had spent the days dreaming of some kind of mad Toys-R-Us spending spree. Unfortunately, my parents had decided otherwise. For some reason they thought that it would be best if the money went toward my future education. I got to keep ten bucks, but the other $140 went into my college fund. Which I’m sure was wiped out in our first payment to this ridiculous school.