How much will it cost to make her happy?

How much will it cost to make her happy?

That's the question I asked myself about four years ago when Sylvia, my wife, talked to me about this new "stuff" that Yvonne had given her. Sylvia had been sick for quite a while and our friend Yvonne gave her some of this stuff called "Thieves" to help her feel better while they were away together at a retreat. Yvonne, like Sylvia, can't stand to see someone not feeling their best. Sylvia breathed in the Thieves... She rubbed it on her chest... She rubbed it on her feet.... She felt better... And then she came home.

Growing up part time in Europe Sylvia used to get herbs and tinctures and drinks (even one made from 'stinging nettle') whenever she was sick. Her great aunt Tante Mali would see her sniffle, cough, or sneeze and she was off to the scary basement to concoct something to help. This Thieves stuff made her feel like she was doing things the European way. She explained all this to me when she was explaining that she wanted to buy some of it from Yvonne. "Yeah mmhmmm sure. Makes you feel like home? Sounds good. Get it." So she bought Thieves.

And then the hammer dropped. "You know...Yvonne said that this Thieves stuff is not the only stuff they have." Ok, uh oh, you now have my attention...and the attention of our checkbook. Just exactly how many other things do they have? That one bottle of Thieves wasn't exactly expensive but I wouldn't say that the tiny bottle was cheap. Even if you do only use a drop at a time. I braced myself, "Ok, let's hear it."

Well, there's this one for this, and that one for that. Some of them are singles and some of them are blends. There's a drink you can get. I've always been interested in doing things like they did in Germany and I think these things would let me do some of that. 

I could tell that she was sold. In my head I was thinking something along the lines of, "How much will it cost us to make her happy?" That really is my goal. Making her happy. I can't get you a 3 carat diamond tennis bracelet, but I can make your coffee the right way. I can't take you on an Alaskan cruise, but I can open your car door for you. So I asked, "Which ones were you thinking about getting?" 

Well, I wanted to get this and that and also that...and all that would cost about $100. (Yikes!) But they have a kit that's got the three I want and eight more and it would only cost about $160 dollars, AND it comes with a diffuser that lets you put them into the air so it gets to the whole room. 

After the "SpRoInG!!!" sound subsided in my brain I told her that we would need to plan for a few months to make that happen. We were pretty stretched at the time. I agreed to set a little aside every month for three months and then we'd get it. After all, I had been hearing about her German 'potions' for our entire marriage. A little piece of my immature and wildly imaginative brain had visions of her standing in a laboratory on a stormy night shouting, "He's alive! Alive!"

We saved, we bought, and we have never been happier! If we have a sniffle, a cough, a sneeze or anything else, Sylvia is off to her little corner of the kitchen (we don't have a scary basement) where she comes up with something that will help us all feel better. She has taken to helping people outside the family as well. Tante Mali would be very proud. In fact that $160 investment has helped us not only with our health but with our finances as well. 

I'll explain more later...but if you don't want to wait you can send me a message. I'd be more than happy to talk to you. Sylvia's website is also available if you want to explore for yourself. Here's the link: Sylvia's Site