A Fool's Paradise

That is what I have been living in....a fool's paradise...and I am the fool.  Do you know any women who live their lives oblivious to what goes on around them in the real world?  Well that describes me...so if you know me, you know one.  My head isn't buried in the sand and I don't wear rose colored glasses, but I have been blindly skipping through life unaware of our finances - or at times the lack thereof.
I am good in a pinch.  Remember when the oil companies went on strike for three months in the early eighties?  I had my game on then and it was me who dealt with the incoming bills while Tommy (who then worked for ARCO) looked for temporary work.  But since pastors do not have a union and do not go on strike, those particular skills have fallen by the wayside and been trampled into the dirt.  Alas, adieu.
What was the matter with me?  Money was an issue of which he took care. (Did you notice my carefully worded sentence so as not to end it with a preposition?)  We were on the same page...meaning I did not go on spending sprees without consent.  Those were the days of balancing a checkbook.
What I was really clueless about was life insurance, health insurance, car insurance, invested monies, etc.  People complaining about their light bills would ask me, "What was your light bill this month?"  I would just shrug an "I don't know."
"What do you pay for internet?"
Silence.
"Phone bill?"
"Hmmm."
"Water bill?"
"?"
(You get the picture.)
Lately, I decided that I better put on a responsible hat.  It does not fit me very well...yet.  Neither of us is getting any younger and while I do not want to think about 'the end', I realize I need to be prepared for it.
Last night was my first lesson.  It did not go well, because the important papers seemed to be absent from the meeting.  We could not find them.  I finally discoverd our wills under our bed in the very bottom of a box of school awards and music programs. (I am a hoarder of my kids' accomplishments.) We also uncovered some pictures of me as a young lady in love with a guy on a submarine.  (Yes, of course it was Tommy.)
The things we sought have not been found yet, but a simple print out from the computer including a bunch of numbers, accounts, and secret passwords necessary to pay bills will keep me busy for a while.  Maybe the Lord will take me first when the time comes.  In the meantime, I am wearing a new hat, digging up those long lost skills, and getting my game on.