Things I'd love to do if I won the lottery

 

I totally forgot to buy my lottery ticket last night. Oh well.  Realistically, I understand that the chances of winning are extremely slim but if I don't buy a ticket at least, the chances are even less LOL But, like everyone else, I have that fantasy list of things I will do if I ever win.  Some of them are obvious, some not so much.  Here are some of the things I have thought about doing if I ever win.  

1.  Start a home for animals

Working in senior living, I have seen the importance animals can be to older adults.  But often, they are unable to care for them at that stage of life.  Sometimes it is for physical reasons.  Sometimes it's just too costly.  What I would like to do is start a kind of retirement home for these animals where elderly people could place their animals when they can no longer keep them.  The pets would be cared for and taken to visit their owners on a weekly basis for the remainder of their lives (either the pet or the owner). That way they can still have that important connection without the burden of trying to care for their pets when it's too much.

2.  Pay off debts

This is a no brainer.  Pay off my student loans and my credit cards.

3.  Spend a few weeks in NYC

I have only been to NYC a handful of times but there's no place like it.  I want to go and do the touristy things like see the Statue of Liberty.  And I want to see a Broadway show every night.  It's gotten to be so expensive that winning the lottery is about the only way to get that done these days LOL

4.  Travel abroad

I have always wanted to go to England.  Mom went there back in the 80s and it was the trip of her life.  I want to follow in her footsteps and see what she saw.  There are other places as well.  I have watched way too many episodes of Rick Steve's European travel shows and each time I think that I'd love to go to this country or that country.  Of course, I'm going to need a passport first!

5.  Buy a house

I keep going back and forth on this one as to the kind of house I want.  On the one hand, I want the big old house with too many rooms.  On the other hand, I want something similar to where I live now.  When the time comes, the kind of house I get will be determined by my life circumstances at that time. I know I just want something to call my own.

6. Spend a month at Disney World  

4 weeks.  4 weeks at Disney World with friends.  And each week I want to spend at a different Disney Resort, beginning with the Contemporary Resort.  The others I will have to do research on but I will figure it out.  Disney is my happy place even though I have only been there four times but it's something I fantasize about spending a lot of time there.  Join me?

7.  Share the wealth

Of course I will want to share my winnings with some people.  I have a list of those people as well but will not share that because if it ever actually happens, I want the giving to be just that...giving.  I don't want it to be expected.  Life changes and relationships change so this is another one that will have to be played by ear once winning the lottery actually happens.

8.  Start a scholarship

Both of my parents graduated from East Carolina University with degrees in education and started their careers as teachers.  That's how they met at Bethel High School.  I would want to start a scholarship for students wanting to study education and teach in the public school system.  I think that would be a great way to honor their legacy.

9.  Support Animal Rescues

This one is dear to my heart.  There are so many good rescues out there that exist to make animals' lives better.  I have a few in mind that I would definitely want to help out financially.  Again, the names will remain in my head only until I am able to assist.  And even then, I would want it done privately.  But the work they do is so important to me and it costs a lot of money to run these kinds of places that it would be the least I could to do help out. 

10.  Start a non-profit

This goes back to teachers again.  I want to open up a supply warehouse specifically for teachers in the public school system.  Teachers are often forced to supply their classrooms out of their own pockets.  To me, that is just wrong on so many levels, but it is what it is.  I really would like to have someplace that I could stock with school supplies of all kinds that would be available at ridiculously low costs.  I mean like 10 cents on the dollar kind of prices.  I know this would not be a money-making business, but if I won the super lottery, who cares.  If teachers are going to have to spend their own money, I believe that they need to get the most bang for their buck.  Anything to help relieve some burden and help our educational system. 

We all have the fantasy list of what we'd do with lottery winnings.  I'd be interested to see what some of the things on your list are!

Working on emotional well-being

 Emotional well-being is a key ingredient for good mental health.  And I will be the first to tell you that my emotional well-being has run the entire spectrum.  There are many reasons for that, and I will not go into them right now.  Some years of my life were very dark.  Many were not dark at all.  So, I am thankful for having made it through those times when I was not sure that I would.  But I did learn from those times and that is a good thing.

I am happy to say that I am very pleased with the state of my emotional well-being these days. I have stated several times in the past few months, both online and in person, that I have been feeling all the feels.  And I have.  I feel like I am much more emotionally open than I have been in a long time.  Every day is not perfect by any means, and I don't walk around spreading sunshine everywhere I go, but when I feel good, I like to share it. I like to share when I don't feel good either, but I have learned that comes with some limitations, and I am totally fine with that. Even then, I am letting myself recognize and process those feelings which ends things on a postive note.

I talked with Lois about this last Sunday during porch time.  I was explaining to her my favorite theory that I learned in one of my theory classes at UNCG.  It's the socio-emotional selectivity theory.  Basically, it states that the older we get, the choices we make become more meaningful and have a bigger emotional impact in our lives.  I have loved this theory from the first time I studied it and that is what I believe is driving my emotional awareness these days.  I am finally making some good choices in my life for myself, and it is resulting in a more positive way of life.  

I'm good with that. 

Quote of the Week

 Even though the results of last night's elections give me hope for us as a country, I think it's important realize what the true goal is.  At least to me.  And this applies to all of us, no matter what your labels are. 

Remembering the high school play competition

 

When I was in high school, one of the major fall activities in my life was the annual NCTC High School Play Contest.  Our drama club participated every year that I was in high school.  We never won even though we should have one year.  Oh well.  I have been thinking about it lately because the current contest is about to finish up its second weekend of preliminaries before the final competition at the end of the month. Of course, these days it's called a festival because that's more PC.  Whatever LOL With the competition, you have 45 minutes to put on your show from the time the stage doors open, you get the set put up, do the show, take the set down and make sure everything is out of the theatre.  For us, that meant we mostly did cuttings of shows.  Rarely did we do a play that was already complete under 45 minutes.  Even the one acts that we did had to be edited down.

My freshman year we did two different versions of Midsummer Night's Dream.  One focused on the confused lovers and one focused on Bottom and the Mechanicals.  I was one of the Mechanicals.  The only thing I really remember about that was that the guy playing Oberon forgot his lines during this first entrance and froze on stage.  Later in the scene the girl playing Titania bypassed the stage slap and smacked him good.  We didn't win that year.  

I didn't participate when I was a sophomore.  One show was called Laundry and Bourbon and was about 3 southern ladies drinking and gossiping on a hot afternoon.  It was a hoot and all 3 ladies were recognized for their acting, one winning best actress.  The other was a weird show about rehearsing a play.  It actually had some adult overtones that were uncomfortable that the director tried to whitewash but I'm kind of glad I didn't make it into that one.  We didn't win that year either.

Junior year we did Mother Hicks and The Arkansas Bear.  The Arkansas Bear was a children's show, but I didn't want to be a bear, so I was not in that one LOL Mother Hicks was a show about an old woman who lived in the woods and the young outcast girl and the deaf boy who lived with her.  I was in a supporting role in that one.  That was a nerve-wracking experience.  Like I stated earlier, you have 45 minutes to get everything done.  We never did the show under time.  We did a pumped up run through in the parking lot before we went on but we were all aware of the strain we were under.  Oh, the director in those days could sit up in the booth but that was as close as they could be to participating.  Not calling the show from the booth but watching it from there.  We were cutting the show as we were performing it and our director was sweating bullets in the booth.  Once the show was over, we all waited with breathless anticipation and then screamed when we learned we had finished at 44 minutes and 50 seconds.  Whew!  We did not win that year either, but we should have.  Even the winning high school told us we should have won.  Oh well.

My senior year, I was in I Do! I Do!  Our director wanted to do a show for me and another senior, Amy Hunt, and he chose this one.  The bad thing about it was that the role was not right for Amy vocally.  It was written for a belter, an alto, and she was a very lyric soprano.  She knew it wasn't right. I knew it wasn't right even though I wanted to work with her.  Only the director could not see it and she withdrew from it.  Then we got the great Ginger Stegall to step in and her voice was perfect for it.  It was a fun experience, but we didn't win that year either.

So, during my four years in drama club, we never won the competition.  Oh well.  It's kind of like marching band.  We didn't win much there either until I was a senior.  But I wouldn't go back and change those experiences.  They were wonderful and created great memories and friends that have been in my life ever since.  Those were very good experiences in a difficult time in my teenage years.  I am so glad that I did it. 

Prayer of Remembrance

 This past Sunday was All Saints Sunday when we honor the people who have gone on before us.  This was my first All Saints Sunday at CUMC and it was a beautiful service.  While I did not personally know many of the members who left us over the past year, I was very moved still.  

Today's Moment of Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation slows down our perception of time, so that short moments appear to be longer.  It doesn't give you more hours in your day but can arouse feelings of spaciousness and calm. 

 

Night and Day - Susie Arioli

 Susie Arioli is a Canadian jazz singer.  I first heard her on an NPR program.   It was one of those moments that I immediately wrote her name down so that I would remember it.  And I did.  I have several of her CDs and am always on the lookout for more of her recordings.  Enjoy!