The other day Bill bought a lottery ticket. He doesn’t buy them often, but once in a while will get one when he gets gas. This wasn’t just a scratch-off, it was a Powerball, and there’s a difference. The possibilities are so much greater with a Powerball ticket. Scratch offs are fun because once in a while you’ll win a dollar, maybe five, and it’s quick and easy. But Powerball seems like more of an investment, with a greater reward. Plus, you have to wait for the numbers to be announced, which gives it an added suspense. And last week, for the first time ever, Bill won on Powerball with that ticket. One dollar. So what did he do? He bought another ticket! And this time, we had a chance of winning one hundred million dollars.
The funny thing about Powerball is that no matter how slim your chances are of winning, and they are slim, there’s always the chance, up until they announce those numbers. I guess that’s what keeps people buying the tickets, the chance to dream. And that’s exactly what we did Friday night. Our dinner conversation centered around what we would do with one hundred million dollars.
Bill: Of course, he would buy his dream car, a Dodge Challenger. And probably a few other cars.
Karen: After much thought, I decided one thing I would like to do would be clear out all the brush and hollies on our wooded acreage, and have a beautiful forest to look at.
Caroline: She wants a purple playhouse in the backyard.
Carter: He wanted to buy everything in the Lego store.
There was also a lot of talk of vacations and places we wanted to go. And then we started talking about where we would give the money. Because, after all, it’s hard to spend one hundred million dollars. The amount of money is almost unfathomable.
Of course, we didn’t win $100,000,000. And none of us are disappointed. We really didn’t expect to win, after all. But what I realized after our weekend of dreaming was that, even though there might be a few things we would buy if money was truly limitless, we’re really pretty happy just the way we are. No one talked about moving into a great big mansion, because we like our house. No one talked about quitting our jobs (entirely), because we like having something to keep our brains working. And luckily we are doing well enough already that we have plenty of food to eat and a warm, dry house to sleep in each night.
Sometimes it’s fun to dream. But it’s even better when the dreams make you appreciate your reality.
4 Responses
Go Bill!!! I have never won anything on powerball tickets, but maybe that is because I rarely buy them. Yes it is fun to dream…and how nice to have that conversation with your family. I recently played the penny slot machine at a casino before Christmas and got excited when a lot of matching pictures came up. The lady next to me said had I MAXIMIZED my coins, I would have won $ 30,000!!! But I was content with winning $300 since I only put about 5 dollars in. Still….I think of how close I came!
There’s such a thrill in winning, no matter what it is you win!
Thing 1 and Thing 2 helped me with a Publisher’s Clearing House entry last week. They have already spent their winnings half a dozen ways, mostly involving iPads and Minecraft! That’s as big as they can dream.
I love it! Caroline has seen the PCH commercials and asked me why we didn’t enter. 🙂