Ten spot

On January 29, 1998 at 11:49am I took $10 out of an ATM. Hardly seems worth the trouble.



The receipt from this transaction was carelessly tucked into a stack of musty cancelled checks.



Oh...the good old days! When you could take as little as a ten spot out of an ATM and when the banks returned your cancelled checks to you with your monthly statement.



I tend to get nostalgic about things that happened in the 1990s (my favorite decade). I crumpled up the receipt and threw it on the pile of old papers that had accumulated on the floor.

Before I knew it tears welled up in my eyes and I remembered. January 29, 1998 was one of the last days I could see the world like a "normal" person. A couple days later I would be in the hospital in a drug-induced coma. When I woke up on February 10th, I was blind.

I miss being able to see more than the equivalent of looking through a peep hole on a hotel room door. I don't let myself think about it too often because it makes me too sad. It is easier to miss the by-gone banking practices than your vision.

Now, I wonder if I can toss these old checks?