They say the jackpot is up to something like 425 million dollars. That’s a lot of money, really it is. You could buy a lot with that. That’s a heck of a lot of little Compact Flash cards, really it is.
Sometime, maybe sometime soon, sometime this week, somebody is going to walk into a store just like this one. They are going to walk in a banker or a lawyer or a nurse or maybe a school teacher. They will walk in, maybe get some gas, maybe hit up the ATM, maybe even stand in line to get themselves a lottery ticket. And then? Sometime on Wednesday of this week, their number is going to come up! Their number is going to come up, they are going to find out that they are “winners!” and not in the Charlie Sheen style of winning, no, they are going to suddenly become rich, really very gloriously rich.
425 million is a lot of money. You could buy a lot with that. You would never have to work again. You could buy all sorts of cars, houses, boats, heck, even a private plane. Like sports? You could buy an entire sports team! With that amount of money, you could buy yourself a sports team and even have money left over.
It’s kind of nice to fantasize about what you might buy should you win. It’s nice to go through your daily life, as you always do, except maybe, this week, just a little bit, to stop and think about that 425 million. Would you spend it? Help others in need? Feed the poor? Take a trip around the world? There are a lot of possibilities. I like to think that I know exactly what I would do should I happen to win. I picture myself hold up in a studio house somewhere, probably purchasing a house very near my own current home, with a sign on the lawn that reads “Send More Paint!” Seriously, I would set up a killer art studio, you know I would. That and maybe take a trip around the world.
National Geographic has a special “ATW” (“Around the World”) trip. It involves a private jet, an on-board chef and a private primary care physician. They travel to a bunch of places with a noted photographer, a historian, and several other experts. One of this trips even has Alex Trebeck of Jeopardy! fame on-board. Yeah, I would *so* go all Alex on you, let me tell you. I would so hop on that next flight and be out of town! And you would come here, everyday, same as you always do, to find things like “Greetings from Madagascar!” plastered all over here. Yeah, I’d be traveling the globe if I won that kind of money. But then again, I stop and think about Chase and about how it might be kind of fun to stay at home and pet him more. His little head needs a pat too and he’s always been my little buddy. Maybe a fancy mobile home would do better for me instead? Ah the possibilities. Just thinking about it is fun for me. Those people, the banker, the lawyer, the school teacher, who are walking into that shop maybe don’t know what they are getting into this week. They don’t know just yet, but they are sure to find out real soon.
They say the odds of winning are less than getting hit by lightning in an electrical storm. Really a lot less, actually. You are far more likely to do the “Benjamin Franklin” than you are to win the mega-bucks. But, electricity or not, man that doesn’t stop us from dreaming now, does it?
Until next time…
