M married H. At the end of the wedding, M’s mother gave her a newly opened bank savings book with a R1000 deposit amount.

Mother: "Take this savings book. Keep it as a record of your marriage life. When there's something happy and memorable happened in your new life, put some money in. Write down what it's about next to the line…
The more memorable the event is, the more money you can put in. I've done the first one for you today. Do the others with your husband. When you look back after years, you will know how much of happiness you've had.'

M shared this with H when getting home. They both thought it was a great idea and were anxious to know when the second deposit can be made.

This was what they did after a certain time:
– 7 Feb: R100, first celebration for H after marriage
– 1 Mar: R300, salary raise for M
– 20 Mar: R200, vacation trip to Bali
– 15 Apr: R2000, M got pregnant
– 1 Jun: R1000, H got promoted

… and so on…

However, after years, they started fighting and arguing for trivial things. They didn't talk much. They regretted that they had married the most nasty people in the world… no more love… Kind of typical nowadays, huh?

One day M talked to her Mother:
'Mom, we can't stand it anymore. We agree to divorce. I can't imagine how I decided to marry this guy!!!'
Mother: 'Sure, girl, that's no big deal. Just do whatever you want if you really cannot stand it. But before that, do one thing first. Remember the savings book I gave you on your wedding day? Take out all money and spend it first. You shouldn't keep any record of such a poor marriage.'
M thought it was true. So she went to the bank, waiting at the queue and planning to cancel the account.

While she was waiting, she took a look at the book record. She looked, and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all the previous joy and happiness just came up her mind. Her eyes were then filled with tears. She left and went home. When she was home, she handed the book to her husband, and asked him to spend the money before getting divorced.

The next day, H gave the book back to M. She found a new deposit of R5000. And a line next to the record: 'This is the day I notice how much I've loved you through out all these years. How much happiness you've brought me.' They hugged and cried, putting the savings book back to the safe.

Do you know how much money they had saved when they retired? I did not ask. I believe the money did not matter any more after they had gone through all the good years in their life.

"When you fall, in any way, Don't see the place where you fell, Instead see the place from where you slipped. Life is about correcting mistakes."