You Won't Always Know

My wife and I like to change up the way our living space is decorated from time to time. Sometimes, we will get new decorations for the room that we are changing up. Sometimes, we will organize it, and once in a blue moon, we might get a new piece of furniture. Therefore, when we decided that we needed to redo our living room in the beginning of 2020, we made a plan to get a new couch set.
We hadn’t had a new couch since we had gotten married and the set that we did have was one that my wife had bought ten or twenty years prior. So, the furniture was passed due for an update, and we decided that we wanted to get a set that would be easier to have with little kids, one that wouldn’t stain as easily and one that wouldn’t be as risky to rip or tear if they were playing around.
We went to the furniture store and looked around, trying to find a set that would match both our sense of taste and our comfort. After looking for a while, we found a faux leather set that was easy to clean up and had enough room for everyone to sit down. Not only that, but the color of the furniture was perfect for the modern design that we had established in that room, so we were sold on purchasing this new set.
We went up to the counter and told the sales lady which set we wanted. She discussed delivery options with us and told us what the process was in getting the set to our home. Then, she charged us for the furniture so we could move on with the process. However, the charge didn’t go through, and both my wife and I looked at each other in shock. We knew the money was in there. We had saved for this purchase. We had planned it. So, we didn’t quite understand why we weren’t able to pay for our furniture.
The lady tried again but the charge still didn’t go through, and after a half an hour of trying to figure this situation out, we decided to leave and go to the bank to figure out what was going on. Upon arriving at the bank, we found out that the money was in there. There was no explanation as to why the charge didn’t go through. We were frustrated and we decided not to get the furniture set because we had already gone through so much trouble trying to pay for it and the store had so many issues charging us. So, instead, we just kept the money.
Ironically, a couple weeks later, a novel virus hit our country and we were all put on lockdown. At that point, we were very happy that we had saved the money that we were going to spend on furniture. We needed it. Our lives were turned upside down at that moment, and we spent the next two years in quarantine. So, after finding out about the new situation we were in, both my wife and I were happy that there was some kind of fatal flaw in charging our card for the furniture. It was like someone was trying to tell us to hold on to the money that we had, and since we did, it put us in a better place during a very rough time.