Did anyone else cry while watching Survivor last night or was it just me and my extra pregnancy hormones? Last night’s episode featured the Survivor Auction where contestants are given $500 to spend or to save for home. Items auctioned are mostly food. Most players didn’t think twice about spending a few hundred on three donuts and iced coffee, or chocolate and peanut butter, or a BLT sandwich. Tarzan, a tough fifty-something plastic surgeon, was saving his money so he could replace the shocks on his Jeep back home.

But then the one item no one wanted to pass up: a letter from home. “$500” said Alecia without a hesitation and through tears already streaming down her face. “My dad has never written me anything,” she said as she read his letter out loud: “I’m proud of you, I know it’s tough, you can do it, I miss you.” Alecia said it was worth every penny.

Tarzan decided the shocks for his Jeep weren’t so important. He paid $500 for his letter. Although everyone else wanted their letter, and everyone was crying (me included), no one else had enough money. They had spent it on a shower or a donut or a sandwich. I wonder if they wished they could get a refund and make different decisions.

So many “lessons” could be drawn from this.
1. As Jeff Probst, host of Survivor, tweeted yesterday “Dads, write notes to your kids!”
2. Let the ones you love know how you feel.
3. It’s ok to cry during Survivor 🙂
4. We don’t always know what good things lie ahead. We have to choose wisely how to “spend our money” so we have enough left for what really matters.