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[Mme. Defarge]

Met up at a favorite restaurant with longtime close friend the other evening. While I did not have much to say about myself, having spent much of the past two years in voluntary solitary confinement, I wanted to hear all about her sudden whirlwind romance and engagement.

During a recent FaceTime happy hour, which included her fiancé, I’m not sure how the subject came up but she started talking about how great his retirement income was. It isn’t something I would have brought up, but I let the discussion topic run it’s course and said something like, “That’s great” for the sake of politeness.

However, when she again brought up the subject of his very generous retirement income at dinner l felt disturbed by it. She knows how much my retirement income is - which allows me to live comfortably and enjoy a few pleasures, and her income has been roughly the same, but way below his apparent tax bracket.

So, am I envious? No. I have what I need and have never aspired to great wealth. Again, I listened and made polite nods to her apparent good fortune, but am left with questions about the etiquette surrounding discussions of money in social situations.