RachalRenae's million-dollar challenge

I suggested it, so I have to take RachelRenae’s challenge of coming up with a list of 10 things I’d do if I won a couple of million dollars.
Let’s see, if I went out today and bought a $1 ticket for Wednesday’s SuperLotto Plus drawing – and I won – I’d end up with about $2.5 million. After taxes.
I would:
  1. 1. Spend whatever resources and to try to save my marriage. Not buy it back, but spend the money to get us therapy. Settle all debt; take away the money troubles that can cause stress between husband and wife – and work, work, work toward a solution (my gut tells me there’s still a sliver of chance – and I must honor that).
  2. 2. Invest $1 million. Let my money work for me, not against me.
  3. 3. Build my dream house. And I’m not talking some ostentatious, 10,000-square-foot McManson. I’m talking something like 2,400-square-feet, on at least 10 acres, with views of both the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada mountains. Two-story, maybe a craftsman or a prairie-style, but something with character. Something with a huge kitchen that flowed right into a family room that flowed outdoors. And a little cabin on the property to boot, 900-square-feet of man-space, where I could write.
  4. 4. Take my entire family on vacation for 14 days. After the last 14 months – the most positively shitty on record for one family – I’d like to treat my dad, brother and sisters and their families to two weeks of first-class fun. My only requirement? That every day, we eat dinner as a family.
  5. 5. Create a travel fund. Like a revolving charge account, but one that invests the money so it’s always growing. I’d visit Italy again, take my dad to Poland, rent an RV and visit all 50 states, stay in a thatched-roof bungalow over the water on some atoll in French Polynesia and go any and everywhere my heart desires.
  6. 6. Make donations to Lance Armstrong’s LiveSTRONG foundation and also to our yet-as-opened new library. I think it takes a cancer survivor to know how to spend research funds; I also think it is important to better the community you live in. Giving to the library – so it stays open longer than the 20 hours a week currently – will make a huge difference.
  7. 7. Offer anyone in my family the chance to further their education. I think education is an extremely important part of being a good human being.
  8. 8. OK, totally selfish – I’d buy every piece of outdoor gear my heart desired. From sleeping bags and kayaks to mountain bikes and crag pants, I’d get it.
  9. 9. Selfish wish No. 2: A new Apple MacBook Pro, 17-inch laptop with every bell and whistle installed. And put money aside so I could update it every five years.
  10. 10. Work less, play more. Spend time with the people I love. I’d still work – I love writing – but I also would love the ability to be there for my family and friends.

Comments

RachelRenae said…
Great stuff! I didn't include any traveling on my list, but that's one thing I'd love to do if I were independantly wealthy.

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