VENI, VIDI, VISA used to be my motto: "I came, I saw, I shopped." I could never pass a yard sale or flea market without my brakes screeching to a stop. My right turns were never made with precision at such speed. I once took a mail box down in my enthusiasm.

Neither Buddy nor I enjoy shopping like we used to. Part of it is that we no longer have children in the home to surprise with little gifts or new clothes.

The second reason is that in the process of growing older, we have found that accumulating things, or "stuff" as our pastor says, isn't what is important in life. He who dies with the most toys nevertheless is dead.

The third reason we don't shop much anymore is because we don't have the disposable income we had in our working years. With a son in college, plus medical bills, frugality has become a necessity. It's not hard for us to meet expenses. They are everywhere.

Actually, we have all we need and don't need all we want. We may not have a Better Homes and Garden house, but it is adequate and paid for. Our clothes didn't come from Neiman Marcus, but labels never meant much to us anyway. Our vehicles are long out of warranty, but are still dependable.

Considering who you compare us with, Donald Trump or Freddie the Freeloader, we could be ranked on either end of the prosperity scale. My father used to tell us children that if we had a roof over our heads, could pay our bills on time, had food on the table, and had at least a dollar left over, we were rich. According to that definition we are theoretically wealthy. Practically, we are not.

The coming millennium and Y2K issues don't bother us though. We do not have hoards of money to withdraw from the bank. Neither are we worried about possible stock crashes. Our three shares of stock won't make or break us. Our treasures aren't buried in the hills near a certain old tree.

Money has its place in life. It is not the root of all evils. The love of it is. But financial wealth is a lousy way of keeping score. It's not what you have in life that counts; it is who you have in your life. There's nothing in this world worth trading for God, family, or good friends.