I checked my Lotto Texas ticket just now and found that none of my numbers match. The good news is the pot rolls over to an estimated $52 million and gives those of us whose lives are lived in quiet, or even sometimes noisy, desperation the reason to dream.
What would you do if you won $52 million or even $1 million? That is a common question when talking about the lottery. A friend of mine once jokingly — I guess — said that if she won she would have someone dress her. People always say they’d buy a house or a car or, if you’re in Texas, a pickup truck.
My wish list has changed over the years along with my priorities. When I was younger and partying was my major objective, I wanted a dump truck should I ever find myself suddenly rich. Yes you read that right — a dump truck. I figured you could hold one hell of a party in the bed of a large dump truck and cleanup would be a snap. Just dump the party remnants in the landfill when you are through.
Around the time I had my dump truck fantasies I moved in with a friend in the little town of University Park, which is near Southern Methodist University and is pretty much surrounded by Dallas. For those of you unfamiliar with the territory, University Park and the city of Highland Park (known as the Park Cities), are home to the Dallas area’s rich. My friend and I were not at all wealthy but it was nonetheless fun living in such an enclave. I always said University Park was like a cross between Mayberry and Beverly Hills.
Living in such a community can have quite an effect on your standards. So I tweaked my fantasy a bit. If I ever won the Publishers Clearing House prize (Texas didn’t have a lottery back then) I vowed to buy a Mercedes dump truck with Gucci mud flaps. I was pretty sure Mercedes would have a suitable chassis for such a vehicle. As for Gucci, I don’t know if they’ve ever made mud flaps, but I do know that money makes a lot of things possible.
These days I think I’d like a little place in the country, say 100-200 acres with a sturdy house and a front porch. The chances of that happening anytime soon, especially since I am out of work, is pretty slim. Also remote is the possibility of winning the lottery. The odds for correctly picking all five balls and the bonus ball in Lotto Texas is about 47.7 million-to-1. Many people also like to point out when discussing such odds that your chances of getting killed by lightning are about 2.3 million-to-1. I think making such a comparison is a tad severe.
Yes, your odds of getting fried by lightning are much greater than winning the lottery. But your chances of being killed by lightning are still the same if you don’t play the lottery. You can’t win if you don’t play. But you still may be fatally zapped by lightning.
I say live it up. Chances are against you ever winning enough money to engage in rank frivolity. But you might as well try. You also need to make sure you are in a safe place during a thunderstorm. I don’t think you really would want to win that lottery.