This episode of It's Going to be Okay is presented by the Hartford.
The Hartford is a leading group benefits provider helping to simplify employee benefits by
making them more personal and easier to understand because using your employee benefits shouldn't
be so complicated.
Learn more at the Hartford.com slash benefits.
I'm Nora McNerny and it's going to be okay, which is hard for me to say let alone believe
because I am depressed.
But on the advice of my therapist, I am searching for one okay thing about every day and bringing
it to you.
It's going to be okay is a new daily podcast filled with okay things from me, my friends
and from you.
Find it's going to be okay wherever you get your podcasts.
Why is buzzer a stick in the money tree?
I'm Nora McNerny and it's going to be okay.
Buzzer a stick in the money tree.
And more importantly, why is there a stick in the money tree?
Or maybe most importantly, what is the money tree?
The money tree is really just a tree, a palm tree, a palm tree that we pass every day,
twice a day on our walks to and from school.
A palm tree filled with indents from woodpeckers who are just out there pecking for a little
snack.
Some of these indents that the woodpeckers leave are actually larger than you might imagine
a woodpecker hole to be.
I always thought they would be almost like little drill holes, narrow ones, but these
are larger which sort of gives the trees trunk the appearance that it's wearing a polka
dot dress.
We walk to and from school with anywhere from three to five kids depending on the day and
at some point one of the kids and they will all claim it was them who started it, discovered
that the holes in the tree were the exact right size in which to slip a penny.
This penny fit in perfectly and it was so satisfying to see the penny pop right in there
and stay.
And the kids all agreed that this was a great spot for a penny and that by the time we walked
by the tree again, the penny would obviously be gone.
One of the many pedestrians in our neighborhood would see this penny shining in this palm tree
and snatch it up.
See a penny pick it up all day long.
You'll have good luck.
See a penny in a tree?
Well that is a delight to me.
The penny was not gone the next time we walked by the tree.
So they slipped in another penny into a different hole and then another and then a dime and
then also for some reason the wheel from a tiny toy skateboard which brings us to our
original question.
Who put this quarter in there?
Was that us?
Yeah.
Okay.
Wow.
All the money.
We know that wasn't us.
Yeah.
That looks pretty high.
Every time we walk by the kids swear there are more pennies that the money tree is
catching on that the money is multiplying.
Why is the money?
I think it's a six quarter.
A penny, a penny.
A penny over here.
Yeah a penny?
The immortal penny.
There are three more dollars.
A quarter that I put it in here.
Yeah.
Someday this tree is going to be just another tree to them like it was before and like it
is to most people who pass it.
But to these kids and to the strangers they swear are slipping in their own loose change.
It is for now the money tree.
It's a source of delight and wonder that makes a kindergartener wonder allowed.
How the heck a stick got onto a tree?
And you know what?
We still don't have an answer for him.
So if you know who put a stick on a tree, you better let me know right now.
I'm Nora McInerney and it's going to be okay.
And that is a tough thing for a depressed person to believe.
Sometimes trust me I know.
So finding a little bitty okay thing in the world is my way of not falling down into the
depths of my worst thoughts.
The it in it's going to be okay is obviously highly subjective.
It changes every single day and I would love to hear yours.
You can send us a voice memo by email.
You just record a little voice memo into your phone on that app and send it to iGTBO
at feelings and dot co or by leaving us a voicemail at 612-568-4441.
I'm especially interested in knowing if you yourself have ever seen a money tree or created
one or if you know who put a stick in the money tree.
We got to know.
This episode of it's going to be okay was brought to you by the Hartford.
For too long the insurance industry has been using terms and descriptions that make understanding
your employee benefits next to impossible.
The Hartford wants to change that.
They're a leading group benefits provider that uses easy to understand language to describe
their products so normal people like us know what we're really getting when we choose our
benefits.
Learn more at theheartford.com slash benefits.