I can take it! Because I honestly DO mean the compliments and I'd talk to these people for hours if I could (and as often as I can, I do stand and talk). It's just my nature. I'd invite them all into my home and share everything I have. I purposely and blatantly chose the area where we live to mingle with "ordinary" folks.

As most of you know, my husband is an engineer. He works for a major oil company and works in the Energy Corridor of the Houston area. Almost everyone who transferred here lives in a certain, let's say, prestigious city. I am not joking when I say that we went out to dinner, everyone was white, upper to middle class, making $70,000 and above and I got the hee-be-jeebies. I am NOT comfortable around people like that. I can't, won't and don't play the game as in ... "Where do YOU live ... in the area of homes that cost $100,000 to $150,000 ... or in the $250,000 to $300,000 home area? I just can't stomach that. We also looked at the school statistics and, at that time, they did not even have ONE percent economically disadvantaged (i.e. those that got reduced lunch meals). Not even one percent ... they had to put an asterisk in it's place. I kid you not. That is NOT the real world!

So my children go to school with 50% white and 50% minorities. THAT is the real world! My daughter's best friend is black, her mother committed suicide, and she lived with her aunt to finish out high school. Another friend of hers lives in a trailer outside the city limits and, you know what? I consider her mother now one of my close friends.

Our children also pay half their college education, did not receive a car for either their 16th or 18th birthdays, and will have to buy back the cars that we purchased for them.

My daughter came home from school one day wanting a photo of our house. When I asked why, she said it was because no one believed where she lived. Another time, she needed to stop by the house quickly to pick up something, and her friend looked at the house and said, "I would have never guessed." Her reply ... "exactly".

And, if I'm not brightening people's days with compliments, I help them out financially if I can. 98% of this is done anonymously ... I helped a friend in Bible Study by crumpling up $40.00 and stuffing it in her diaper bag. (The next week she asked if I was missing any money and I feigned ignorance). I've given the church a check for the pastor's two kids to cover a field trip (he doesn't need to know where it came from), I gave a lady at Firestone $40.00 because the attendant said that she needed work done, she looked in her purse, and I just knew, knew that she didn't have the money. And even PRIOR to giving her the money, I taught her how to play Sudoko .... this crazy 47 year old white woman, asking an elderly, retired black lady if she wanted me to teach her how to play Sudoko. She was SOOO excited and kept telling me ... "This is so cool, oh, this is so cool, I can't wait to get my own book."

I also invite them over for a coke, a swim, a soak in the hot tub and some one-on-one conversation. I know that not everyone is as blessed financially as I am and can't even afford McDonald's. I don't want to make them feel uncomfortable, too, by always buying lunch. This way we have a good time, and it's free!

After we lost a child at the age of 18 days old, I routinely read the obits and sent out a letter to anyone who lost a child letting them know that their feelings are real, very real, and not to let anyone else tell them differently. I gave them my phone number but was upset that they could cross reference my name with the phone book and know where we lived.

That is the one stark difference between my husband and I. He thinks he EARNED it (and, yes, physically he did) ... I see it as God's gracious gift.

So you can see, I can live with myself because it's sincere down to my deepest core. My ONLY regret is that I didn't marry Bill Gates! So, if some day I really DO marry a Bill Gates equivalent, be sure to look me up. I'll be handing out smiles, free swims in my pool, a kind word or two, and nothing will have changed ... except for the cash freely flowing from my home to theirs.

But in all fairness to everyone, I do see how my posts may come across as gloating. I don't mean it. You'd have to know me to understand. But I do understand how you think it could be, especially on paper

So I say to Birte, KC and trfan, come on down to Houston without a dime in your pocket and we can have fun. I make my own entertainment ... sponsored by my husband ... he just doesn't know it. LOL