Andrew Jackson Haunts Me

So the day had come where I had to finally make good on the promise to take the girls to the pool. We were all packed up and were walking to the 1 train to take up to Van Cortlandt pool and we turned the corner where a Bank of America stands. We had our eyes on the ground because the sun was so bright when, at the exact same time, Big Girl and I gasp. Splayed there, on the ground, is not only a 20 dollar bill but a stack of bills. I bend down crazy fast and snatch them up. The girls are squealing with joy. To a 7 yr. old and a 4.5 yr old finding a quarter is a big deal, imagine a 20 dollar bill.
I stand there in a total state of dumb shock. Clearly, for this stack to still be on the ground it must have just been dropped. Like seconds earlier. So I stand there waiting for someone to dart back around the corner all panicked and freaking out blubbering about dropped money. But no one comes. I tell the girls to lower their voices and I count the money.

It's 160 dollars.
Holy Shit.

In a way my heart drops and accelerates all at the same time. I'm stoked that we just found all this money but I know there is just no way I can keep it. I just can't keep this amount of money.
For so many reasons:
I envisioned some old lady possibly coming back to ask around and no one having it.
I envisioned having to explain to the mom that I found all this money and just kept it even though Big Girl sorta found it first. (I would've thrown them a twenty for their piggy banks but it would be weird).
It just felt...strange.

So I say "We can't keep this. It's just too much." and I go into Bank of America and even though my brain is screaming I go up to the window and say "We just found this.  Can I give it to you just in case someone comes back to ask about it?" And they look at me like I'm insane. BECAUSE I AM. (Later my mom tells me I should've asked if there was any policy where I could come back and claim it but when you have two little hyped-up kids you just want to split)

And I run out of there because I just don't want to be dealing with it anymore. Big Girl can't stop fantasizing what we could do with that money and she's making me feel so full of terrible regret. All I can see is my Con Ed bill paid for. By the time we get to the end of the block I'm so bummed.

I'll be honest- if the girls weren't there I probably would've kept it. I would feel a little weird but I'm pretty sure I'd skip to my favorite drug store right down the street and spend some immediately to make it mine, all mine. But all I could think about was being a 'good role model' (it sounds gag worthy but I swear it's true). I wanted them to think about someone else's hardship.
I thought about their dad who is a total douche and that he's teaching them to be completely insensitive to other's struggles. I've been with the family when he's been rude to, talked back to, made fun of homeless people in front of them and it drives me crazy. I've heard Big Girl repeat stuff about poor people. She once was talking about a friend who wears the same shoes everyday (7yr old gasp) and I was so mad that I informed her that some people in the world don't even have shoes. "What do they wear then?" NOTHING I replied. Her mind was momentarily blown.
Anyway, since she has a dad who is teaching her some pretty sketchy morals I just couldn't keep that money in front of her. I have to (if only for a moment) be a better person.
But I was bummed all day.

Later that afternoon when I was depositing them off at home and dad was splayed on the couch listening to Metallica so loud he couldn't even hear his daughter (god forbid he lower it) she excitedly told him about the money we found and turned in.
He looks at me and goes "Well, you're a better person than me." I may have said it with a smirk and had the tone of light humor to protect myself but I turned to him and said:

"Oh, I know."

Later, I was talking to my mom, explaining how I only turned it in because the girls were there. She told me to stop feeling so bad, it's not like that money would've have drastically changed my life (true) but I'm no angel. Instead of sucking it up and moving on I loudly declared "These kids are ruining my life!"