Dream Big

Playing the lottery is one of the several vices I carry around. The others being Starbucks and an unhealthy affinity for black boots. Oh and good tequila. I would not define myself as a “big gambler”, but I do buy 7 days worth of SuperCash tickets at a time. And yes, I use the same numbers. I will also, on occasion, purchase a “Powerball” or “Mega Millions” ticket if the jackpot inches upwards to the many millions of dollars.

I don’t think dreaming is a character flaw. I think it’s nice actually. Even though my odds of hitting it are say .00001%. They are the same .00001% for me as anyone else. And wouldn’t it make a great story?

My husband refuses to play the “what if we won the lottery game” with me. A quality I find annoying and joyless. I agree that some people can be ultra fanatical about winning 10 million dollars by simply plunking down $1 and ordering up a quick pick Mega Millions ticket. I am of the personal opinion that there is a certain level of joy and optimism that comes from dreaming big, even if those dreams have a .00001% of coming to fruition.

The “Mega Millions” jackpot was at $118 million recently and I bought a ticket. Why not? $118 million could do a lot of good for a lot of people. If I won said lottery, the very first thing I would do is change my phone number, hire a lawyer and a good accountant so I can spend some, share some, save some.

Think of what I could I do for my parents and my mother in law. We could gift a sizeable check to each of our respective siblings and good friends… enough to get them out from any debt, offset the kids’ college funds or simply have some money in the bank so it’s not so stressful if the car breaks down?

And for ourselves…invest heavily. Buy a car that isn’t 10 years old. Replace the carpeting and living room furniture. Build a deck. Redecorate the bedroom. Upgrade the computer to something slightly zippier than a dinosaur. Donate a big check to a bunch of charities.

I would quit my corporate job and really see about expanding my tye dye line – the kind of expansion you can only do if you have some dollars to help get things rolling. Like add my own labels, a customer website, or a van customized to hold all my displays and inventory.

Of course winning the “SuperCash” (top prize $350,000) wouldn’t afford the kind of luxurious spending and saving mentioned earlier, but it would definitely allow for much needed new carpeting, and fattening up my sons college account. Unfortunately, I would still need to keep my corporate cube job but such things are a trade-off for even a little financial freedom.

And that alone is worth the price of a ticket to dream about.