MegaMillions Won!

No, I didn't win the Megamillions 1.6 billion dollars. However, someone did win. The winning ticket was sold in South Carolina. I immediately thought of my brother and his family.  He has two daughters and seven grandchildren. Gee, I hadn't thought of that possibility! 

What I was going to do if I won was set up a million dollar trust fund for each them. I never considered the possibility that one of them could win. Would they set up a trust fund for me?  I doubt it.  Not to sound too cynical but why would they?  

My next thought was a sense of sorrow for the person or persons who won all that money.  Their whole life would be changed, forever.  How could they ever be normal again with all that money?  One person or family can only spend so much money.  1.6 billion is too much money, really.

This has caused me to rethink me buying any future lottery tickets.  I've decided this is the last big money lottery ticket I will buy.  I have one more ticket to check, a Powerball ticket that is worth over 620 million dollars. That drawing is this Thursday. Like all my other lottery tickets, I'll be lucky if I can even match one number.  I'm done with this fantasy that I would ever win.  Sure, I would like half a million dollars to play around with but as I've said in my previous posting, I have a great life right now.  I have everything I need.  Talking to my friend Larry on FaceTime this morning (we're both the same age, 77), I told him the only thing I would like to have is my youth back.  I would like to get up on the morning and not ache all over (arthritis).  I would like my left leg not to be pins and needles as a result of my accident three years ago where I tore my quadricep muscle.  I would like to have my dark beard back.  I would like to have my flat stomach back and get rid of my "pot" and love handles.  Where did they come from anyway since I weigh the same?  I would like to see that young face of mine in by bathroom mirror in the morning instead of that old man with the grizzled face road mapped with wrinkles.  Now that is a fantasy folks. Forget winning the billion dollar lottery.  It ain't going to happen.  I wish the person who won the lottery a happy life.  If his or her life can be as happy as my life is now, they have truly won life's lottery.

Note: Photo was taken this morning of my friend Lar on FaceTime with his daughter's cat Giselle and her new couch

Megamillions Lottery Jackpot

The Megamillions lottery jackpot is estimated to be one billion dollars.  That's right - ONE BILLION DOLLARS!

The cash payout would be 565 million.  Oh yes, winning that amount of money would change one's life.

Wednesday I purchased five Megamillions lottery tickets. This is the first time I've purchased a Megamillions lottery ticket. In the past I've purchased the Powerball tickets.  

I don't play regularly anymore.  I did when I first moved to Delaware and was carrying a $100,000 mortgage on our house. A thirty year mortgage that would be paid off until I was ninety five years old.  Then I was buying six tickets a week.  Most I ever won was $7.00.  I still have that five inch stack of lottery tickets downstairs in my storage room just in case I win a lottery.  I keep them as a reminder of the folly of purchasing lottery tickets.

But I have to tell you folks, the chance of winning a half a billion dollars was just too much to pass up.  Not that I need the money, I don't.  An inheritance from my Mother paid off my mortgage.  I have everything I need, except maybe youth but I have everything else.  

I have all the toys I need.  I have loving and loved partner of fifty-four years, my Bill.  I have a loving friend that I've looked for all my life, Pat.  I have a great job to help pay for the extras like trips and more Apple toys.  I have a perfect home and a lovely yard out back that satisfies all my green thumb needs.

So what would I do if I won all that money?  Well, first I would set up million trust funds for all my immediate relatives; two brothers and twenty-two nieces and nephews (at last count, my brothers are very prolific even though I'm not at reproducing progeny).  Then I would set up million trust funds for a select group of my friends.  Yes, I would duplicate that fictional character of that Fifties TV show "The Millionaire".  Many of you are probably too young to remember the name of that millionaire so I will inform you.  His name was John Beresford Tipton.  

Yes folks, that's what I would do if I won the Megamillions lottery jackpot, I would be the new millionaire who changes people's lives for the better.  Note, no charities, individual people and trust funds, not a lump sum cash.  And oh, I would treat myself of course.  Say a nice home in West Hollywood. A getaway in Palm Springs.  And a nice condo in Hamilton, Ontario Canada where my good buddy Pat lives.  

Of course I doubt if I will win this lottery. The odds are just too great.  But what playing the lottery is all about is buying dreams.  Even though these tickets cost me $10, and I don't win, at least that $10 bought me dreams, even if for just a little while.  

But you know what folks?  I am convinced that before I check out I will win something big.  Maybe not this one, but I will win.  I have led a charmed life.  And even if I don't win one of these lotteries, I consider I've already won life's lottery with Bill and Pat in my life.  

UPDATE: I didn't win! The winning numbers were:  15 23 53 65 70  07*

The new estimated jackpot is 1.6 billion. Folks, that is TOO MUCH MONEY. I'm going to take a pass on this one, maybe.