Someone is gonna have a lot (tery) of fun

Buzzzzin’ with
Mrs. B


Blackburn

Blackburn

Well, someone in Illinois is about to have a lot of fun, and once again it is not me. The Mega Millions Lottery held recently offered someone over a billion dollars and I can’t even begin to conceive what it would be like to wake up and have that be your new life.

I also didn’t realize there were so many ways to get a piece of the pie . . . not that it matters, because I didn’t even get the paper plate that pie is served upon.

My good friend Wendy and I were just talking about this reality a few days ago. She didn’t feel her life would change that much, as she is pretty content with her life just the way it is. I said the only thing I would do differently is to buy a house on the water and travel more. We concluded we didn’t need to win the big one; just enough to make our expanded view of reality a little cushier.

We agreed that it would be difficult to have that much money because of the people around us. We didn’t want a bunch of new friends just because we had money, but neither did we want to lose our old friends just because we had money and they didn’t. We both wanted to take our friends on vacations, but knew they wouldn’t want to take our money, which would make them feel poorer than they already were, and didn’t want to be seen taking a handout.

If you think you are plagued with spam calls and phishing emails when you are broke, just imagine the backlog of people who would try to scam you out of your billions given the opportunity! You would need a financial adviser used to dealing with large amounts of money, and honest enough not to try to cheat you. You would need a secretary just to answer the phone, now filled with calls from relatives and friends you didn’t know you had.

Apparently, in some lotteries, you don’t have the option of remaining anonymous, which of course would be my preference. I always saw myself building a “Wish Upon a Star” Foundation that would quietly go around doing good without anyone knowing from whence the help came, but in today’s secretive and doubtful society, the very people you would try to help would reject the help, fearful of being scammed and clinging to the philosophy that there are no free lunches.

I got a headache just thinking about the headaches that would come from winning all this money, so I guess it was a good thing I didn’t win; although a cool million would certainly have handled most of my needs and wants.

We have returned once more from our annual sojourn and although it went by entirely too quickly, it was pleasant to lounge on the deck overlooking Lake Michigan and enjoy the evening with two friends it has been my pleasure to know and hang out with for over 50 years.

Those kinds of friendships are rare and deeply appreciated. We have shared expensive steaks and back porch pizza. We have shared old memories and made a few new ones. Some of us married and had children and some of us did not. Some of us have traveled the world and some of us traveled to Michigan to meet them and hear of their adventures. Either way, the experience netted us laughter and the expectant promises of more days ahead.

If I were to examine my life, I would say I already won the lottery when it comes to having good friends, and as I sit on my back porch and jot these words. I wish the new lottery winner well . . . I just hope it was someone who wasn’t already rich. I would like to think this person has a new life ahead of them, not just a continuation of their life. ‘Til Next Time! Mrs. B.

Jan is a long-time nurse and author of the book “Motherhood and Other Natural Disasters.” Comments are welcome at jblackburn1029@gmail.com.

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