We all have our little "lottery fantasy", don't we? That little crazy dream we all have about what we'd do if we won 'The Big One'. Well, I'm a sporadic lottery player at best (I save my gambling for the odd Blackjack game on those rare casino outings), so my own odds of winning are slim to none.
My own lottery fantasies include: paying off my car (my only debt) and setting my mom up with a very comfortable lifestyle for the rest of her days; giving some to my niece and nephew towards their college expenses so they don't have to graduate in debt; making it possible for my best friend to hire a full-time nanny and cleaning service to make her life a lot easier (she has a great husband, 4 kids and a nursing job); donating a big chunk to 3 or 4 of my favorite charities and causes; setting up a nice retirement fund for myself; buying and furnishing an apartment in Paris; and then simply enjoying my life knowing I will never "have to" work but can work for the sheer joy of doing so. What a gift!
But I just LOVE a good lottery winner story. Any time I hear about someone who was down-and-out winning a sizable sum, I feel like, "Yes, there is some justice in the world after all. Good for them!" and I am genuinely happy for the winner.
Not all big-winner stories have great endings of course. Several years back, in my corporate days, my boss, Art, had a brother who won $6.5 million in the New Jersey state lottery. In the days just before he won, he had been worrying about how he was going to be able to keep his already-struggling business going as an independent contractor because his work truck was on its last legs and he had no money to fix it, much less buy a newer one. One day his business was tanking and he really was in a bad way, financially; and the next day he was a millionaire. Life is like that sometimes, you never know what's coming your way!
The first thing Art's brother did with his winnings was buy a new truck. Then he bought a farm - I mean that literally (no, he didn't die!), he bought some farm property to be a "gentleman farmer". I asked my boss if his brother was single (if he was, and if he was anywhere near as nice as my boss, he'd be quite a "catch"). My boss said his brother WAS single but he wouldn't wish the guy on his worst enemy, let alone a woman he liked and respected (like me). Apparently the brother was pretty selfish and didn't offer any of the money to his other family members or give any to charity - not even One Thin Dollar. And within a couple of years he had somehow burned through most of the money.
But many winner stories really warm the heart. This one takes the cake. A Kenyan immigrant living in Des Moines took his U.S. Citizenship oath on Friday; then the same day, he discovered he had a winning lottery ticket to the tune of $1.89 million. (He took the annuity and will net out almost $53K annually for the next 25 years. On his corrections officer salary, that's a pretty good deal, I'd say.) That's one hell of a "sign-on bonus" for joining America!
Can I have an amen chorus of "God Bless America"?
