Back in the days when I was a young, single Mom, I lived from paycheck to paycheck, but I didn’t do a very good job of it. I misspent a lot, and always ended up borrowing money from my credit card to cover my living expenses. Then, one night over dinner, I made a promise to a friend that I’d stop borrowing money and overspending. I meant it, too. My 10-year old daughter Tobi, who was with us that night, also heard me make this promise.
 

Several weeks later, I found myself with $1.63 in my pocket and three days to go until my next paycheck. I needed $1.00 for gas to get to work, which left me with .63 cents for food. Forget about the bills! I reached for my keys and my credit card for a quick trip to the bank, and suddenly remembered my promise. If Tobi hadn’t heard me make that commitment, I surely would have broken it. But I had just taken a parenting class where we learned “If you say you’re going to do something in front of a child, you’ve got to keep your word.”
 

I was stuck. I felt like the worst Mother in the world. How could I keep my promise and feed us too? When would I learn not to overspend? I thought back on broken promises from my own childhood, and decided that keeping my commitment was my top priority. I started looking through the kitchen cabinets for dinner ideas when Tobi called out from the living room, “What’s for dinner, Mom?” I spotted pancake flour…then a thought ran through my head, “This does not have to be dreary.” I yelled out, joyfully, “Pancakes!” Tobi squealed  with delight.
 

I liked the squealed response, so I ran with it. Why not make it fun? “And we’re having pancakes on the living room floor!” More squeals of delight. “And we’re going to eat on a lace table cloth with china and silver and crystal.” (Funny, I had 63 cents to my name, but I had china, silver and crystal, all charged of course!) To top it off, I suggested we come to our table dressed in taffeta and lace. By now, we were both squealing. We dressed ourselves, we dressed the table, we even put lace on the cat!
 

We sat down at our lace picnic table surrounded by candlelight and I felt like a great Mom. Tobi sat across from me on the floor and talked from her heart. She told me many things I didn’t know. Who she liked, who she didn’t,. and what she was afraid of. Secrets her friends probably knew, but I didn’t. Then she told me she wanted to go to Stanford when she grew up. “Dear God,” I thought, “My daughter wants to go to Stanford and I can’t even afford milk!”
 

“You will go to Stanford, Tobi,” I said, “I have absolutely no doubt about that, and when you graduate, I’m taking you to Europe to see where I went to school and all the places I lived as a child.” What an unforgettable night that was, and I did make it to the next paycheck without borrowing money or breaking my commitment. Ironically, what I learned that night became the seed of a glorious future career – teaching others how to live abundantly on their present incomes.
 

Years passed and Tobi went on to college – Yes…Stanford. And when she graduated, we took our long-promised trip to Europe. In fact, Tobi, a good friend and I went for a full month. When we got to Paris, we had another remarkable dinner. Only this time, it was at Guy Savoy’s, one of the top five restaurants in Paris, at that time. When we arrived, the staff lined up to greet us; the sous chef, the waiter, the assistant waiter, the sommelier, the assistant sommelier. Everything was beige and white; beige marble floors, beige plush carpeting, beige walls, and white table cloths. The food supplied all the color necessary. For three hours, we drank rare wines and ate magnificently. And all the while we squealed. The chef fell in love with us we were told, because we were so openly appreciative of every morsel, while the other diners acted as if they ate that way every night.
 

After dinner we asked for a taxi, but instead the chef sent his personal Rolls Royce, complete with chauffeur, to take us home. What a wonderful, unforgettable evening. One we’d savor for the rest of our lives. The cost of that dinner: $400 – and that was in 1988!
 

Two wonderful dinners. Two unforgettable experiences. But life is full of choices. If I had to make a choice between my pancake dinner and the dinner in Paris, I’d choose the pancake dinner hands down. That’s still where my heart is.
 

And now, I’m very busy teaching other parents about the magic of pancake dinners, even if they can afford a $400 meal in Paris. In fact, especially if they can afford a $400 meal, because True Wealth, as I discovered, has nothing to do with money.