I got an email from my friend Debbie Stumpf the other day asking me to contribute to a compilation of stories that she is gathering for inclusion into a book. Her request was simple and straight forward, “what would I not be willing to give up for one million dollars?” I had never really given any thought to an idea such as that. I am sixty four years old I have been married three times twenty-seven years the first time with three children, ten years the second time no children, and currently six years. I have had several different jobs. I have had cars that I really liked. I have owned homes that were very nice. I have had nice clothes. I have traveled all around the country. I have earned a college degree. I have never been what I would consider financially successful. I have made lots of poor choices particularly in my first marriage. I really squandered the love of a good woman, the mother of our children. I gave that up for no money at all, certainly not a million dollars.

So, you ask what I would not be willing to give up for one million dollars. There is no material possession worth more than fair market value. There really is not one thing that I have or that I have had that I would not willingly give up. What I would not give up for any price is the sum of my memories of family and friends. I can still remember nearly forty five years ago when I saw Shelley for the first time the morning of her birth. I was nineteen years old and sure that there had never been a more beautiful baby born. As she grew older she grew even more precious. I remember when she decided that she was too old for her bottle and threw all them in trash. I remember when she was just able to speak in sentences and instructed her grandmother that she was taking the wrong road to go home. I remember when she started swimming and decided that she wanted to attend the United States Air Force Academy. I remember when she graduated from Eaton High School at the top of her class. I remember when we delivered her to the Academy and I realized that my little girl was now grown up and would really never come home again. I remember the victories and defeats of her college years. I remember when she told me that she was in love and was going to marry Geof. I remember her graduation and the drama surrounding it. I remember her wedding. I remember the excitement of finding out that she was going to have a baby, then that it would be two. I remember the agonizing trip from Grand Junction to Denver when Dan and Jerry were born so early that we could not imagine that they could survive. I remember coming back several months later when they were finally home all hooked up with wires and tubes. I remember the first time they leaped in to my waiting arms exclaiming “poppa,” I can’t even describe the joy in my heart. And it is the same every time it happens, now times five with Kristy, JD, Hanna, Gavin, and Jack. I learned about love from Shelley.

You might think that the above is enough, you would wrong. Shane was a whole different experience. I remember him playing with trucks, cars, tractors, and blocks. He was born with a motor sound. I remember him carefully explaining to our neighbor lady in Cody, WY exactly how the trash truck worked. Shane was around three at the time. I remember helping him take the wheels off his tractors so we could replace the axles with all thread so that he could move the wheels in and out like real tractors. I remember his fascination with road building machinery. I remember him watching the neighbor farmer work in the fields. I remember him going to the neighbor’s dairy barn to watch and then as he grew older help. I remember him wanting to bring home an orphaned calf to care for. I remember the sadness when the calf died. I remember that he didn’t want to have more calves. I remember that he switched to only being interested in growing things. I remember that for several years after we moved to town he would ride his bike several miles each day to help the farmer. I remember that for several summers he lived at the farm to work for Ruben. I remember when he took over his grandmother’s farm as his FFA project and even though he didn’t like having animals worked very hard with the cow calf operation that was already in place. I remember him fighting snow drifts to feed the cows and check on new calves. He left for his first job and didn’t come home for three days. I called to check on him and found out that the job meant that he be at a drill site with a water truck till the hole was drilled. He started taking his lunch and a sleeping bag to work. It was not long till he was managing other men doing this work. All he did was work for several years then he met Pam. He fell in love and in a short time was married. He still works long hard hours and is able to find a balance to be with Pam, son J.D., and daughter, Hannah. He is a great dad. He didn’t like school very much and he never stopped learning. He reads everything he can find and thinks deeply about life and his faith in God.

I remember Shad coming along when we thought we were done having children. I know that everybody thinks that their baby is the cutest one ever. Well Shad was the cutest ever and so good natured. He was open and friendly even as a baby. I remember when he got his first “Hot Wheel” car. Then there was a whole collection of cars he carried around in a case. I remember the “Star Wars” toys again he got a whole collection over time. I remember when suddenly neatness became important to him and spread from his room to the whole house. (I wondered who are you and what have you done with my son.) I remember his first Commodore computer a toy that really started him on his profession. Once he got his driver’s license he was hard to keep home; he wanted to be with his friends all the time. He became a good swimmer and in his senior year we moved to Greeley so that he could continue to swim. College was more social time as he joined a fraternity and became very involved. His first job after graduation was for the national office of his fraternity. In his last year of college he met Becky and fell in love. When she graduated they married and now have two sons, Gavin and Jack.

Three children and seven grandchildren not possessions are what I value beyond money.

So when you ask what I would not give up for $1,000,000 the answer is that there are so many things that are not things. They are memories and relationships that have no monetary value. They are priceless.