Show me Yours, I'll show you Mine

When I was 17, my sworn enemy was this gorgeous creature named Gregory. The boy I liked was head over heels for her, and was always deciding which of us would be his girlfriend. One day, my crush would be holding my hand and we'd be sharing our hoodies and listening to music out of the same earbuds, the next, he'd be taking Gregory out to dinner. I wanted to ship her off to Nepal and be done with it.

But one night, she appeared in my dreams. She was walking out of the mist, hand outstretched, and for some crazy reason I decided to call her up the next day and ask if she wanted to get coffee. She said yes, and a week later we both decided we'd ditch the stupid boy and become besties (oh, high school).

Only a few weeks into knowing each other, Gregory came over with her dairy in hand, saying she wanted me to borrow it for a while. Her DIARY. I'd never read any of my friend's diaries before and it was the coolest thing anyone had ever given me. I read it voraciously and then gave her mine to borrow for a while. It was one of the most intimate things I'd done with a person at that time, and it still hits me in the feels when I think back on it.

I have a new friend here in Austin. We've only known each other for a few weeks, but every time we get together it's a little bit of magic. Today he called me up asking me for home loan advice (I've been doing a ton of ATX home buying research).

"I'm about to share with you all of my financial information, " he said. I laughed and assured him I wouldn't do anything bad with it, and over came an excel sheet with all of his financials on it, a secret window into his life and his decisions over the last decade.

I was overcome with the same stunned wonder as when I was 17 and Gregory was handing over her most intimate thoughts. A person's finances tell the same sort of story a diary would, except perhaps even more honestly. I don't think I've ever seen someone's financials laid bare like this.

So I decided to show mine too. I stuttered over the phone as I pasted the link into our text thread. On this excel sheet is my salary and stock options, the total of all of my savings, my investments (and the specific ETFs) over the last 5 years, the down payment I have set aside for my home... I'd never shared this with a friend before. "I feel so vulnerable!" I said, finger hovering over the 'send' button.

"But isn't it fun too? Isn't it freeing to share this with someone you trust?"

I smiled big. "It is!"

And I pressed send.