My Million Dollars

I’m sure we’ve all thought about it and we all dream about it from time to time. Having one million dollars put in your hand suddenly and unexpectedly. It will never happen to me during my lifetime but its worth spending a dollar on the fantasy. I’ve been buying lottery tickets regularly for most of my adult life and the most I’ve ever won is ten bucks. But, what would I really do if I received a late-night telephone call from the Ontario Lottery Association informing me that I had won first prize? Most probably, I would start planning my selfish little adventures right away.



My problem has always been that I don’t know where to live. Now, suddenly, I have options. I live in Ottawa only because the majority of my family is here. The winters are cold, harsh and unrelenting but I must maintain my Ottawa home. Vancouver, however, is a beautiful, warm and vibrant city, and I have a son who lives there, so I would buy a home close to Vancouver. I know the perfect spot overlooking the Straits of Georgia, not far, in fact, from the US border. It’s a long way from Ottawa, but travel would be no problem because I would buy my own plane, you see.

I fell in love with Dunedin, Florida, when I spent the winter of 2005-06 there. Consequently, my next purchase would be a home in Dunedin not far from Honeymoon Island. I could re-establish some old friendships there. My Dunedin home would have to have a secure garage where I could park my brand new Harley Davidson Street Bob.

I know a place that is not well known; its very private; and it’s possibly the most beautiful and unspoiled place in the world. It’s a small village located on the north-east shore of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. It’s called Speyside. It’s the perfect place to go if you want to get away from it all. The natives are warm and friendly; the scuba-diving is superb and the fishing is out of this world. It’s a nature sanctuary. Yes, I’ll buy a home there as well. Of course, I can’t hang around all by myself so I’ll need to get an expensive trophy-wife to accompany me to all my new homes.

Hold on there just a minute! Houses in Ottawa, Vancouver, Dunedin and Speyside plus a new plane and a Harley, plus a trophy-wife with very expensive tastes - I think I’m already broke. I can’t afford all this on one million dollars. I need at least ten. I don’t have ten.

Ah Well! It’s time to quit dreaming and consider the important things in life. My health is good. I’m very happy the way I am. I don’t want to change my life. I think it would be far more satisfying to give my family a helping hand and to do something meaningful with the money. Alzheimer’s disease comes to mind. It devastated my family. I would donate a substantial amount to combat that and other diseases as well...Now, I feel much better.!

Originally written September 23rd, 2006