My parents live in a very tight monthly income. Every third of the month, my parents will receive their small pension and pay their utility bills. Before this pandemic it was easier. They’d be able to walk into the bank’s lobby, talk to a cashier, and withdraw the amounts needed for their bills. They would then stop at each of the utility places and make their cash payments. Now that bank lobbies are closed, they need to either use an ATM or use the drive thru. Due to their struggle in hearing, they don’t do drive thrus. They don’t feel comfortable with ATMs so that’s also a no.

Since the pandemic, my dad will stop by once a month to show me his utility bills. I write down each one and the total. We will then go to an ATM, get the cash out, then stop by a gas station to buy a money orders, then come home and I fill out the paper work. Once we are done, he takes his three different envelopes and drops them off in each drop-off location for payment.

This has become our monthly routine.

A couple of days ago, he asked me to pull out extra cash from the ATM. I did this without question. I assumed he had other things he needed to pay but I didn’t ask. Once we got home, as I give him the envelopes so that he can drive off to the pay stations, he hands me a small cash bill. He tells me this is for the monkey. I immediately told him no, but thank you. We are fine. I told him that he needed the money more than my son.

He looks at me in the eyes, my sweet father, and gets teary eyed. He tells me he knows my son doesn’t ask for much, but he does require more than others. He tells me save it. I will be contributing a little bit each month. This way he has a little stash for when he needs something, I will be able to provide it for him.

The hard part of this is that I know they live in a very tight budget. We always help them out because of this. My dad is very frugal. But I accepted this gift on my son’s behalf, because I knew my father had been thinking about doing this for some time. He analysis his expenses. And I’m assuming he knew he could afford this.

He is always there for my son when we need him. Every time I ask him to look after him because of a meeting that I have to attend to, he will gladly be there. Although my son does not speak, he will always find ways to ask us to go see his grandpa. They have a beautiful bond.

And now this. My son won’t understand any of this. He won’t understand the cash behind it, nor the sacrifice that his grandpa is making.

But my son does understand many other things. He understands that he is cared for, and he also knows his grandpa loves him.

And this is more than I could have ever asked for. ❤️💙