I was twelve when my dad pulled out a quarter and said, 'Heads, we stay; tails, we're out.'
He was trying to decide between paying the rent and buying a used car for a new job. He flipped it in the kitchen.
Tails. We were out.
My mom had a corkboard in the hallway covered in expired coupons she never got to use. She took it down that night without a word.
We moved in with my best friend's family for a month. His mom never made us feel like a burden, even when we ate all their cereal.
I still think about that coin sometimes. It wasn't really about luck.
It was about a man who didn't know how else to make a hard choice. I don't blame him anymore. I just wish he'd put the quarter away and asked for help.