A Winner

OK, I have the lottery ticket in front of me.  The numbers are emblazoned in my memory.  I’ve checked the numbers four times and I’m checking them again.  Numbers don’t lie.  I bought a Powerball ticket with a Powerplay option.  If I match most of the numbers the amount of money I win will, I hope, at least double.  But I don't need the Powerplay today.  The outcome of check number five is like the previous four.  I matched every number.  I have it!   I have it!  I’m a winner!

The lottery ticket is in my possession.  The numbers drawn today that match my ticket are  04   07  33  44  47 and the Powerball number 34.   Yep, excitement! I can't breath. I can't think. I don't know who I am.  But I have lottery numbers that match my lottery ticket!  Like money in the bank.  Money, money, money!

I want to tell someone.  Wait, I have to be careful.  Who can I tell that won't ask me for a loan?  I know, I'll tell Turtle.  We've been friends since grade school.  I know things about him for which the statutes of limitations have not expired.  Yeah, I'll tell him. He'll keep a secret or else.  Or else I won the lottery!  Whoot!  Yippi!

So, what do I do?  Right now I'm going to cruise the neighborhood. It's two in the morning and the subdivision is snoring, except for lottery winners and insomniacs.  At this stop sign I'm going to check the numbers again.   I'll get my smart phone and check the Powerball website.  The numbers are there, all aligned like the stars positioned on my birth chart.  Yep, my stars and the lottery numbers 04 07 33 44 47 and that beautiful Powerball number 34.  That's what the numbers are and as I check the numbers on my lottery ticket I am not disappointed!   I’ve checked it six times and the numbers have not changed or disappeared.  This is a good sign.

What should I do with all the money?   Invest?  Yes.  Enjoy?  Yes. Subvert lowly capitalist pigs who have been manipulating my pathetic life with low wages and high anxiety?  Yes!  Yes!  Yeah, I will hire “people,” the kind of people who find out about people. I will have them find out about these lowly capitalist pigs.  I am empowered, vindicated.   I am nourished at the well of contentment and blessings.  Yep, I am blessed!

My job is obsolete.  I never have to face $10.50 an hour again. Never have to worry about choosing to pay either the car note or the mortgage for lack of money.  Never again do I have to work in the hospitality industry which is, by the way, a very inhospitable place to work.  I am on the other end of the hospitality curve.  The resorts I vacation at will change their policies to fit my whims.  I’m going to have a lot of whims.   I'm in charge now.  Management will vie for my money and I will make them crawl on their belly to get it. Abuses at their hands are indelibly etched on my mind, but that's all behind me now.  My money will eke a reckoning.

The rules have changed. What governed the making of my self image has fallen away.   I will have to learn who I am without the harsh realities of poverty shackled to me.  I can go anywhere I want whenever I want.  I can live where ever I want.   I can create a business and hire people.  I can help friends and loved ones.

Slow down.  Take a deep breath of Freedom.  The concepts of “freedom” and “free will” have a totally different meaning now. I have the where-with-all to do anything I want. To change my environment in fundamental ways and with ease is awesome.

My goals were always in the arts.  I write songs and scripts for TV and movies.  Writing projects have been limited by what little time and energy I had away from work collecting a paycheck.   Setting goals with limitless finances at my reach creates different stresses.  From now on my goals will be influenced by what's most important to me.  How much do I really want to achieve?  How do I blend a healthy lifestyle with hanging at the beach and chasing women?

Interests will now compete for time and energy with people in my world needing help. My boundaries have always been a j-o-b. Earning a living has set the tempo to everything in my life.  I have to set my own boundaries from this point on.  Boundary building might evolve somewhat painfully.  I hope not.

Magically, I am a family elder.  It doesn’t matter how old I am.   Money does things like that.  I can't save everyone, but I am in a position to help.

First, I must sojourn to the nearest Powerball office and show my free pass to the world.  A piece of paper with six wonderful numbers.  Maybe I should hire a lawyer to collect the winnings, or maybe a priest.  Which one is more trustworthy?  I’m too excited! I’ll collect my winnings myself.

I need a CPA!  This person will guide me through my financial ignorance.  I will construct financial instruments that will protect my money.  I will have shelters for investments.  I will proudly pay my fair share of taxes.  I don’t care how many tax cuts the Bozos in Washington want to give me.  I am a financial force and I will donate time and money.  That’s what responsible people do.  I’ll be a caretaker of the earth.  Look out, corporate bad guys and lawless law enforcers.  I am Superman watching out for the little guy. I got big muscles and even bigger reasons to keep you under scrutiny.  So don’t piss me off.

I am a winner.  I have money.  I have escaped obscurity.  No longer lashed to a corporate oar, I am not a number.  I have a name and it starts with Mr. and ends with Somebody.