redemption upon maturation

When considering what to do after high school, I applied to and had been accepted at several institutions of higher learning, but my preferred school would have cost more than $15,000 per year to attend. They generously offered me $250/year in financial assistance. That left a significant deficit (perhaps near $30,000 in today's dollars). Somehow I didn't qualify for any federal grants or loans, so I ended up accepting the offer of another school which had actively recruited me. They offered a scholarship which paid for the bulk of my expenses which left me with a much more manageable deficit. But I was still short on the amount I needed for room and board. When I told them about this shortfall and explained I was considering attending a different school nearer home, the school told me about a special loan they had which would cover the difference. Naively, I assumed my educational financial worries were over and I would get the loan again for subsequent years, but after the first year, they said it was just for first year students. This was something they'd failed to mention when I was deciding where to go to school. I felt a bit manipulated and had the sudden need for additional moneys for room and board the second year, which I had to pay in advance. I asked Grandad for a loan and had to specify terms to pay it back. I think I said I'd pay it back within five years of graduating. That summer, through nepotism, I got a reasonably well paid job in the office of a construction company. Due to circumstances beyond the scope of this reminiscence I did not have to pay rent during the summer and was able minimize other spending. I ended up being able to save a bit more than I had expected. Then when I returned to school, I got a part-time job in the computer lab as a student support assistant. It was minimum wage, which was very minimum ($3.35/hour?), but it also took up time which might have otherwise been spent engaging in activities which incurred additional expenses. During that school year, I had saved enough to pay off my loan to Grandad. I told him I would be paying him back early next time I saw him. I think it was summer when I saw him. I don't recall if it was at his house, or somewhere else we met. I also don't recall if I had cash or a check. But I remember taking a slightly orangey brown kraft Manila envelope which had somehow gotten a few small black grease marks on the right side out of the glove compartment in my car and handing it to him. He thanked me and expressed gratification and admiration at my industry and thrift to be able to pay it back seven years early. Then he handed me back a thick envelope. He said this is a reward for paying it back early. It was an envelope full of U.S. Savings Bonds of the equivalent value of the repayment I had just made. He told me to save them and redeem them when they had matured. I kept them for a while but ended up liquidating them before they had matured due to circumstances beyond the scope of this reminiscence.