|
|
“My period started today,” Ruth said. Brody could hear her sadness over the
phone. “Oh, I’m sorry, honey. That’s too bad,” Brody said. Until now, they both
had assumed that she was pregnant, because her period was supposed to start
three weeks ago.
Brody had mixed feelings about the news. On the one hand, he knew that Ruth
wanted a baby more than anything else in the world. So, he naturally wanted her
to be pregnant and happy. In fact, he wanted a kid as much as she did. He would
love to have a son, so he could teach him how to avoid all the stupid mistakes
Brody had made in his own life.
On the other hand, he had just read about a new study that said the cost of
raising a child was now $225,000. And that was just through high school. College
was an additional expense. Right now, the average cost of attending a public
university was $6,000 a year--if the student lived at home. Eighteen years from
now, how much would it be?
Brody and Ruth had only $50,000 in savings, not even enough for a down
payment on a nice house. Plus, neither of them had health insurance. Premiums
for insuring themselves and the baby would cost at least $400 a month, not to
mention the deductibles and co-pays.
“You worry about money too much,” Ruth had once told him. “Look at you—your
parents raised you and five more kids, and they were making much less than we
are making now.”
“That’s true,” Brody agreed. “But things were a lot different then.” |
|
发表于 2016-7-10 09:21:00