Yesterday I asked people to send me their $2 bill stories. I've already gotten several links, tweets and incredible emails, like the one below [reprinted anonymously with the writer's permission]. Keep them coming to @iansohn or iansohn2[at]yahoo.[com].
In the summer of 2006, my then-girlfriend, now wife, was doing a business school internship in Southern California. I went out to visit her in Laguna Beach for a weekend. We were just wandering along the beachside shops, bars and restaurants when we decided to stop in to one of the local haunts for a beer.
There was an older gentleman sitting at the bar enjoying a cold beverage of his own. We casually chatted with him and it turned out he was a local retiree.
We noticed that he had a stack of $2 bills with him. My girlfriend commented that her dad used to always give her $2 bills in cards and presents when she was a kid and how she always loved them.
So I exchanged with the man a $10 bill for five $2 bills. My girlfriend and I each took one and folded it up and put it in our wallets. It was in my wallet when I proposed to her. It was in my wallet when we got married. It's still in my wallet today and I'm sure it will be there in November when our first child is born. And likewise for her (although I doubt she'll have it on her during the delivery!).
Sometimes when I'm trying to fish something out of my wallet, the $2 bill will slide out instead. It always reminds me of that leisurely, sun-soaked day on the shores of Laguna Beach and everything that has transpired between us since then.
There's something about how $2 bills always seem to be so crisp and fresh that makes them seem somehow superior to other bills. And the depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back lends it an air of importance, I believe.
By far my favorite denomination...