I started thinking about this song on the fifteenth. The fifteenth used to be my pay day, back in the days when the man employed me.

It’s always fascinating how pay day affects the area’s dynamics. Being close to poor when I was a married airmen in the Air Force, I understood. Every penny was saved and accounted for in the budget. Saving enough to pay for a treat, like Ho-hos, was a big deal. Ho-hos were ninety-nine cents back then.

But we knew we were more fortunate than others. We lived paycheck to paycheck, but we were saving, and slowly pulled ahead. We had food, electricity, clean water, shelter, and security. We had each other, a cat, and a car.

So, in honor of who I was, and the others who work and struggle, here is ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid,” from 1972.