Picking up Pennies

 

Whenever I see a penny or other coin lying around, I pick it up. This seems like such a geezer thing to do. But in a way, it’s more of an iconoclastic reaction to the old (read: Depression era) people of my youth. I’m not sure whose voice is in my head when I hear, “Nobody picks up pennies anymore. In my day, you could buy a lot with a penny…” I’m also not quite sure why that voice and sentiment are so irritating to me.

A couple of years ago, I got irritated to the point that I decided to see just how many pennies I could pick up in a year. Who knew what an interesting adventure it would become! I just put the coins in an old spice bottle and total up the amount at the end of the year.

The most I ever got was $5.13 in 2017. That included the Day of My Great Haul. I was walking on the busy street by my house when I spotted some coins in the lane by the curb. Watching carefully for cars that were whizzing up over the hill when the traffic light turned green, I started picking them up. I went through several cycles of that traffic light to pick them all up! They totaled $2.72 in coins. I could only conclude that someone had thrown a bunch of coins out the window. And I had a good time dreaming up what scenarios would lead to coins being tossed.

YEAR	TOTAL AMOUNT
2017	$5.13
2018	$4.00
2019	$4.15
2020	$3.46

 

This hobby is not without some tricky bits. One day a few weeks ago, I was passing a parking lot on my noontime walk at White Rock Lake. Just as I passed a car with two people in it enjoying their lunch, I spotted a penny in the parking space next to them. I ambled over and picked it up. Normally, I drop the coin in my bra so I’ll be sure to remember to put it in the jar where I keep my found coins. However, with these two people watching me, and no doubt wondering what the heck I was doing, I decided it was probably better to put the coin in my pocket while they were eyeing me.

Picking up pennies is a delightful enterprise. Every time I find a coin, it makes me happy. Sometimes if feels like a sign from God, although I try not to be superstitious about it. Back in the summer, I was wrestling with a decision about whether to take a short trip with my family during the height of the COVID crisis. The morning of the day we would leave (or not) I was going to walk before dawn and found a bright shiny penny right by my car. A few minutes later, I saw a luna moth flying around. I had never seen a flying luna moth (only dead ones) and I’ve never seen any at White Rock Lake. Honestly: wouldn’t you take that as a sign from God to go ahead and take the family trip? As it turned out, that trip was the last time my family visited my sister before she was diagnosed with her terminal illness.

So, trite as it may seem, I’m going to go with the idea that these really are pennies from heaven.