I have A Dream

I know everybody talks about it, dreams about it, and wishes about it; but what would you REALLY do with it? Would you really be as whimsical about how you used it, or would your intelligent senses kick-in, which would cause you do right by the miracle of it all?

$900+ million dollars is more money than any of us could possibly spend in a lifetime. Even after taxes, the amount of money left is a ridiculous figure, and to just sit-around and make-up things to spend it on would not be my style.

I have always known exactly what I would do with that kind of money, because for me it’s all about my family and helping people – that may sound corny – but I’m a pretty simple person with simple dreams.  

First I would buy about 500 acres of land, have it all cobbled out into sections, far enough apart for people to live their own private lives, but still connected enough by roadways and trails, that ALL of our family’s from both sides could live on the same “compound”.  All the homes would be custom-built to each family’s liking, decorated as they saw fit, and set-up with enough land for farms, horses, cows, or anything else they wanted to complete their home life and make them comfortable.

And the most important must-have: right in the dead center, there would be a man-made lake that each home would dump-into by a dock, stocked with fish. A place that would fill hours of time with joy and laughter for children and help adults re-live memories of their childhood summers spent doing the same thing.  Grandparents teaching grandchildren how to bait a hook as they spun tales of fishing adventures of days gone by.

Then, on the town square, I would open my dream book store for adults/children alike.  It would be

warm and inviting, smelling of coffee, hot chocolate and warm sugar cookies, with circle-times for little boys and girls, and guest readers for both adults and children. White Christmas lights adorning the shelving and casings, giving the year-round’ feeling of magic and warmth - the same magic and warmth that would line the shelves with stories to take you to faraway places of feel-good and love.

That would be my last job in life; enjoying every single minute of watching little faces light-up with laughter, doing Uncle Remus voice-overs as I read aloud stories of rabbits and brier patches, Dr. Suess’s Hop on Pop, and The Magic Hockey Skates book that my first-born still has on his own bookshelf today. The smiles and joy from those little faces would bring me a happiness unmatched by any profit the bookstore might or might not earn.

The rest of the money, I would of course help who I could, in whatever way I could, including proper charities and organizations that stand for the rights of all treated unfairly or forgotten.  There are enough people hurting, hungry, homeless, and needing help, that I would never have to venture outside the United States.  

Still dreaming. No winning numbers here.