Swedish Meatballs & egg noodles. That’s where this whole story starts. While I hand washed the dishes in preparation for dinner I uttered the words “I could really use a fucking dishwasher”
(The thought has only crossed my mind 788 times since we moved out of the house we rented in Howell somewhere around 5 years ago).If only we could win the lottery, I thought to myself as I poured more soap on the sponge. Putting down the container of soap I picked up the phone to call Lance. “Are you on your way home yet? I need you to do me a big favor, I’m gonna text you numbers, stop at the store a get a mega millions ticket, it goes off tonight” and I got off the phone to text him the list of numbers (don’t think I’m telling you the winning numbers). Then went back to preparing for dinner (which turned out amazing by the way)
Since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day the girls sat down after dinner to fill out their favors to hand out in school tomorrow to all their classmates.
(I’ll admit, I actually ran down to the store at about 12:30 this afternoon because I totally forgot tomorrow was Valentines Day; even though Brandi has asked me what date it was for the last week counting down the days)
Since I was done with my duties for the moment and the kids where occupied, I took the opportunity & made my great escape into my bedroom. I told Google to play zen music, sipped my nightly cup of tea and found my “happy place” (Have you ever watched “Happy Gilmore”? If not, do so IMMEDIATELY).
My thoughts drifted to the lottery ticket(s) that sit in the center console of the truck (when Lance went to buy the ticket the cashier automatically assumed he wanted a quick pick and in the land of the lottery, you always buy the ticket that was printed by mistake). Tonight’s drawing is at $153 million. We always pick the cash option so that’s at $90million. I couldn’t even fathom having that amount of money. Now, don’t get me wrong we aren’t poor but we aren’t to far from it either; That kind of money would change our life in so many ways. Granted, you need to take somewhere around 50% off the top for taxes and all (I don’t know real numbers I’m just sayin’) but still, that’s $45 million. Which got me to thinking “what would I do with all that money?”, and well here I sit writing it out.
The first thing I would do (after all the legal mumbo-jumbo), would be to take $10 million right off the top and make two accounts for my children, $5 million dollars each set aside just for their future; untouchable until they were 25 years old.
Next would be our living situation. I would buy a large lot of land on which I would begin building my dream home. At the end of a long driveway, in the middle of the woods, my log cabin would be built. Just the way I wanted it to be (don’t worry I will spare you the boring details of my little house, underground bunker, stock pile & landscaping… which all are things I have actually considered and would do).
Now, we all know that custom houses can’t go up overnight so in the meantime, I would make my way to the next town over (The DREADED town of Lakewood) to the RV dealership. Where I will buy a house on wheels (And stop next door to buy the minivan I want while I’m at it)!
My whole damn life I’ve been stuck right here. Sure, I took mini trips to see family or friends but for almost 32 years I’ve stayed in a 25 mile radius.
It’s time to hit the road! My family and I (along with a couple friends) would travel to every state in the mainland. Visiting all we could, from Sugarloaf Mountain to the salt flats of Utah and everywhere in between.
(By the time we complete this our house will be built).
Then it would be back to reality. There will be few people that I will help, and if you weren’t my friend before you won’t be after.
For the rest of my days we will live comfortably but I don’t think our lives would change very much.
The only difference is that I will have the ability to give more the those in need. Instead of just sharing go fund me pages I would be able to donate to them. Instead of feeling bad for the homeless, I could help them.
They say “Money can’t buy you happiness” but clearly who ever said this was never poor.
Tomorrow morning I will wake up to find out if we were the lucky winners of the $90 million dollars but till then I will continue to enjoy what I am blessed to have, regardless of how much money is in our bank account.
Mrs. Scaper’s Paper 