I never had a love affair with money, but I know I did learn smart money habits.

I believe parents often influence how we handle money. My brother Richard and I are in agreement that we owe a big thank you to our mother for the way she instilled smart money habits in us.

Truth be told money must have been hard to come by for my mother. After my dad left her with no money, no job, and no place to live, I marvel at how she got by. Not that I ever heard her complain.

What I did hear her saying repeatedly was it isn’t how much money you make that counts. It’s how much you save.

And paying interest is like throwing your money down the sewer, mom told us. We learned to save for what we wanted rather than to charge it.

When a serious accident forced my brother to retire early on “next to nothing,” I didn’t think he could get by. He says after our dad left, mom learned to get by on next to nothing. Then so did he.

“It’s a valuable thing to know,” my brother says.

I wish my mother was still here so I could thank her for all the things I took for granted.

Sometimes we pick up a habit or attitude simply because of hearing it often enough.

That’s how my brother and I formed some of our attitudes about money.

I didn’t think about money at all before I started my first serious job after I graduated. And even then, I didn’t give much consideration to money. I happily worked at two careers, mostly in journalism, then for a while in teaching before I went back to journalism, my first love.

I picked jobs I loved, not those that paid well.

I found myself thinking about that recently when a friend I like and respect mentioned that I could have done much better financially if I would have picked better paying careers.

Well, what would you pick? A job you loved so much that it never lost its excitement, or a great paying job that you only tolerated because of the money?

I consider myself blessed that I was married to a husband who encouraged me to “do what made me happy.”

Of course there is a major difference in life choices, depending on circumstances. My friend Ed, who talked to me about money, had to support a big family while also putting two boys through medical school. He was happy with the choices he made because his kids never had to limit their choice of schools.

Another friend of ours joined in our discussion to say she absolutely picked a career that was extremely lucrative. She said she would never have considered doing what I did. She believes a career doesn’t have to be fun. It has to reward your work.

She thinks I limited myself by not reaching for more.

In all honesty, money was never one of my goals when my husband was here.

Back then, thanks to Andy, there was never a decision of mine where more money had to be my primary goal.

I told you a while back about Mike, a long time friend since grade school. He told me what he always loved about me is that no matter what else I do I will always remain Pattie from the coal region.

Yet Mike once questioned why I had such an old refrigerator. Because it came with the house and it worked great.

Don’t get me wrong. When I think I “need” something I buy it.

When I needed a better camera, I didn’t hesitate buying a great camera.

When I look back on my life, I don’t see the things I could not have. Instead, I see how incredibly blessed I have been.

I have always been rich.

No, not with money. My riches have been in having an incredible family, the kind of family that makes every day enjoyable.

I am so blessed that it was important for each of us to spend time with family. My own kids share that same value about family.

Many of my present friends tell stories about their great trips. They’ve been to foreign places I can’t pronounce or spell.

The world has grown in opportunities while many of today’s kids have vistas around the world I only saw in the movies.

But I treasured the family’s trips to my Aunt Marg’s place. It was less than an hour from our home, but we all loved the joy and laughter we had when we were all together.

The world may have changed and expanded in ever-growing way.

Yet my memory still rejoices at what we once had. We can travel all over the world, but we can’t revisit the glorious days of our youth.

Back then it was a simple life.

The more time that goes by the more we realize how blessed we were.

And how blessed we still are.

Sometimes I think what we all need most is not money. It’s a great big appreciation for all we have been given.

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net