I bought a Powerball Lottery ticket today. It had been so long, I wasn't even sure how to do it, but the nice kid behind the counter was very helpful.
I'm not sure why I decided to throw my numbers into that hat. I know what the odds of winning are (ridiculous!) but in all honesty, I have a better chance of winning the lottery than writing a million-dollar bestseller or having a screenplay turned into a real movie.
And since that whole "real job" thing isn't panning out the way I hoped, what the heck?
So I bought my ticket and have spent the afternoon thinking positive and compiling a list of what I'll do with the money. First, I'll pay off all of our loans and relish being debt-free. (Whew! That feels good!)
Then, if there's anything left...
Ha! Just joking. We're in deep, but not $360,200,000 deep, which is the estimated cash value we'd, I mean, we will receive. I opted for cash payout rather than spreading it out over 30 years. Geez, I probably won't be alive in 30 years!
Anyway, back to the rest of my list:
- I'll buy Tom a dependable car, so his weekends are free again (for playing ping-pong!)
- I would buy the materials to finally finish this house (and hire the people to do it, if Tom would let me!)
- I'll replace our 26 year-old couch.
- I'll hire someone to stay with my parents and fix up their 50+ year-old house, or find them another place to live. Whichever they preferred.
- I'll donate money to my church to help build a new Parish Activity Center, with plenty of classrooms and meeting rooms.
- I'll travel. There's so much of the world I haven't seen yet, including Disney World and California!
- I'll donate, and donate, and help out.
- Okay, yes, I'll buy myself a new camera and a couple of lenses I've had my eye on.
What I won't do:
- Buy a big new house or expensive cars or clothes or jewelry or anything extravagant.
The thing is, except for getting out from under that debt-weight and a new couch and a good car for Tom, I don't need anything. My life is pretty dang awesome the way it is. Heck, if we could just get out from under our debt, I wouldn't mind keeping the old couch!
If you win tonight (if you bought a ticket) what will you do?
