by Jack
Every Friday night Shari and I drive from Butte City to our favorite restaurant, Casa Lupe in Gridley. We order from the lunch menu even though its dinner..well call it portion control…and we each enjoy one margarita…it’s all about moderation. Then we drive home the way we came, passed the oldest liquor store in town, and we always stop in and buy 1 to 3 lotto tickets each time and it’s always Super Lotto.
This has been going on for years.
During the 30 minute ride home we occasionally talk about what we would do if we actually hit the big one. We knew the chances of us hitting it big were astronomical, so the conversation was really just for our own amusement. Shari and I agreed the first thing we should do is keep it quiet, as if nothing had happened, then break the new in a special sort of way.
We’re both in our 60’s and if life has taught us anything, it’s be comfortable with who you are and what you’ve got. So, hitting the LOTTO would not be the big life changing moment for us. In fact, we know that life would go on pretty much as it had been.
So what too with all that money? (Maybe, give it away to FRIENDS on PS?)
Shari said she would like to spend some of it helping our children and I agreed. Helping is just that, it’s not giving and spoiling. It really is just helping them get started and then let them do the rest. For example, help is paying for education. We believe in that. Help is not buying them a fancy new home, car, or a big diamond ring. Hmmm…does this make us control freaks or just garden variety conservatives?
There have been times when the kids would have said control freaks… definitely!
Any way, we both agreed that whatever help we offered would probably be just like we’ve already done. Now to me, at this point in my life with grown kids, it’s gratifying to think we’ve done the right thing and we’ve got good kids (wage earning adults now) to prove it.
But, what else would we do?
Giving money to a worthy local charity or scholarship fund would be fine – we both agreed on that. “Helping” people is fine as long as its done in the right way and they people are deserving. I’m telling you honestly, this is exactly what we talked about and what we promised each other…this is what we would do. Don’t get me wrong we not trying to win sainthood because giving is for selfish, personal reasons too.
Okay, so all this was going on before the last $40 million dollar Super Lotto Jackpot was announced.
The odds against us winning jackpot that were roughly 1 in 41,416,353. But, we both had positive attitudes and like I always told Shari, all you need is one lucky ticket…so forget the odds.
We bought three tickets and one had our kids birth dates on them…
and of course we lost. Heck, the odds of winning were 1 in 41,416,353!!! What would you expect? But, that’s not the point here, the point is for people like us (conservatives) we really don’t rely on luck or others and we therefore have all we need (not want).
Our political party of choice is of course republican. We belong to the GOP because of what they stand for, not what they do! They’ve had plenty of boondoggles, but name another organization this large that is flawless? That latter part means the GOP is always a work in progress, but its that philosophy that keeps us on track. Now the other side (Dems) seem to put way too much into hope and not enough into hard work and self reliance.
So Shari and I will continue to buy our republican Lotto tickets, but in a way we’ve already life’s super lotto with a good family and lots of friends, anything else would be just icing on the proverbial cake. As for the future, its in our own hands and that’s just fine by us! We’ll let those who subscribe to that other big party rest on all that hope and change….and they better stay our of our change!
What WOULD YOU DO If you won the lottery?
If I won the lotto it would be a miracle since I never play, lol. But let’s say I diod and won. I’d invest it wisely so that it could continue to grow (wealth creation). I’d have to modify my will immediately. I would donate a big chunk to Q’s rehab center as long as I could see it was truly run well. It’s the type of giving I’ve been doing for a long time and would enjoy having my dollars work locally. There are others I give to that would get big fat yearly raises.
Other than that, Jack, I’d also live pretty much the way I do now.
My response to Q’s question would only follow when he provides a list of persons, other than Jesus Christ, with a perfect record.
I’ll play. Let’s see, what would I do if I won a big bunch of money?
First I’d have a professional gardener come in and redo my flower beds. Heck, we’re talking big money right? I’d buy a new place and have it all done. Then I’d take off with a friend and travel to every place my heart and good weather takes me.
Then I’d give my son a chunk of it to do what he wanted. Sorry Jack, it’s a gift with no strings attached.
Of course my two grandkids will get some too and 10%+ goes to my church.
I’d also give another chunk to the MDA, Muscular Dystrophy Association, because my oldest son died from one of the approx. 50 different types. MDA is one of the only charities, at least they were, that does not receive any gov’t funds. Hopefully, a cure will be found and another mother won’t have to burry her son.
I’d set up two scholarships, one male and one female, at Butte CC and Chico State for students who lost a parent or both and don’t qualify for financial aide.
I’d set up another scholarship for a student who lost a parent while serving in the military, police or fire dept.
The rest I’d spend on treating myself and girlfriends to being pampered at day spas, shopping and sipping ice teas/lemon drops on a beach.
First things first. I need to buy a ticket.
Q: “Thanks Tina, but I didn’t ask you.”
Had you asked it wouldn’t really be a donation but a response to solicitation. However if you refused my heartfelt donation to a very worthy cause I would accept the refusal graciously and donate the funds to another rehab center.
“YOU can’t answer the question!”
I answered the question; you didn’t like the answer.
The question was, in my estimation, a loaded question. It wouldn’t have mattered what I said made up the republican philosophy and any person I might have named would have been met with your usual scorn and derision because they couldn’t “hew” perfectly to the philosophy.
We judge other in retrospect. Any person’s record is bound to be flawed.
Expecting perfection has been your pattern as you hold if others, and possibly yourself, to an impossible standard. However, as much as you seem to deman perfection from our legislators, I don’t believe your personal standard has ever been tested in like fashion. Were you to ever serve in Congress (or become president, God forbid) you would have to work with 535 others to get legislation written, passed, and sent to the president for his signature. You would be faced with forces outside congress, little power structures, that would prevent you from playing king. You wouldn’t get to force your will on others as you can in your imaginary scenarios. Your stubborness to exact adherence would find you isolated, ineffective, and still firmly perched on that high horse.
Reagan was a man who did hew to the Republican philosophy of smaller, more local government and power vested in the people. Working in the real world he was not always able to have it the way he would have preferred but he did use the bully pulpit effectively to advocate for smaller government and he did what he could as governor and president to move the ball in the direction of smaller government and power vested in the people. His power in that regard reached all around the world and continues to this day!
I agree wholeheartedly with these guys who include real world conditions as they evaluate his record…imperfect and effective:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4590
I stopped where you say, “I drive from Butte City…”
Are you saying, you live in Butte City? I’m from Butte City.
Beware the Armadillo.
I would first speak with a good money manager and a CPA.
Then after everything was taken care of, I would give alot of money to the food banks, I have a very hard time reading about all the people who need help during the month for food. The papers, the ER and Post was full of stories about food banks during thanksgiving.
I told my husband it is a heartbreaker, we have a choice of what to have for dinner we need to do what we can to help. Winning the lotto would be a great way to do it.
with a good amt.
Ah, another Butte City gal…not many of you around any more, but then there never really was a whole lot of you! lol I don’t actually live in Butte City, the ranch where I stay 2-3 days a week is outside BC towards Afton, another mega-city. I live the rest of the time in a house near Bidwell park in Chico.
I would buy another lottery ticket.
Well, I grew up across the river in the other direction, just west of the “Butte City 4 Corners”. They call that “Codora”, or they did when I was a kid. I still have cousins out there, if you run into a Dillard, tell them I said Hi. Andy Dillard was my grandpa, and he was a good old boy. My gramma was Erma Dillard, The Armadillo.
thanks for the memories Jack!
Better watch it Jack the occutard is going to tag you as a 1%er, lol. They act like that is a bad thing. If I won the lotto, I would do the big things most of us would do but after that I don’t really know. Maybe start a school to end occutardation . It would be heavy on reading, history, math, economics and most of all civics.
A school to end occutardation…lol. Toby I think there’s at least a bumper sticker in there somewhere.
I was thinking bigger, like a telethon. I can see it now.
Cool…a telethon! I hear there’s a nice set of styrofoam Greek Pillers stored somewhere….