Lottery To Do List

DP Writing Challenge, ,

Written in response to http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_writing_challenge/list-lesson/ and in SOC style.

Like many people, I have a “To Do List” should I ever hit the lottery big time. It’s pretty specific, though I am sure there are many other things that I would also do.

There is a little cemetery I used to spend a lot of time in to think and I made one very important decision that I never regretted while sitting out there pondering my future. While there, thinking and visiting a lost friend’s grave, there was a nearby grave I always noticed. It was for a little boy who died on Christmas Eve many years prior. There were many faded toys surrounding his grave, but no headstone or marker, just a piece of paper in a plastic cover. I am sure by now that paper marker is gone, as that was many many years ago. There were never fresh flowers on his grave, just the same old faded plastic ones – like maybe his family was not close by anymore, or maybe they couldn’t bring themselves to come here, or maybe they had all but forgotten about him. I wrote down that little boy’s name, as well as the date he was born and the date he died. I would love to buy him a headstone. I do not know why I am so compelled to do this, other than I think that little boy deserves one and his parents must not have had the money to afford it. I have spent many occasions thinking about this boy and the circumstances surrounding his death and burial. So buying a headstone for David has been #1 on my list for a while now. Yes, call me crazy . . .

I would love to set up a LARGE independent agency to go around and inspect nursing homes – and I mean really inspect them with surprise visits and all. Enveloped with that is the ability to change legislation governing them. My grandma lived in one for close to a decade and I always hated that. I also hated how it was maintained and how she was cared for. Unfortunately I was unable to get her to move close to me, which I think would’ve made things better, as I am certain nursing homes (and hospitals for that matter) take much better care of the residents/patients who have regular visitors, than those who do not. My grandma lived 650 miles away, so my yearly visits were not enough to make a difference, other than to remind me of where I do not ever want to end up. I would love to be able to ensure senior citizens were treated with the kindness, compassion, respect and dignity they deserve and treated others with throughout their lives.

My mother was homeless for a while and I was not close by to help. During this time, she was also looking for a job. The one thing that was always a struggle was having clean clothes and being cleaned up for job interviews. Kinda hard to get on one’s feet when you don’t have a job and it’s kinda hard to get a job when you look and smell homeless. If I had the money, I would love to set up places in areas with high percentages of homelessness that allow for people to not only wash their clothes for free, but to also shower and shave for free. Most people who are homeless do not want to be, and quite frankly most of us are only months, weeks or days away from being homeless ourselves were it not for the grace of God or great luck, or both depending on how you look at it. No, I am not a socialist or a bleeding heart liberal, but I am painfully aware of how hard it is out there and how quickly things can go to shit.

The decision I made in the cemetery and never regretted was leaving everything I knew and all my friends behind and moving to Arkansas to spend the last year of my father-in-law’s life living with my in-laws in the middle of nowhere in the Ozark Mountains, with no income. We moved there so my husband could finish building his dad’s dream home he had planned to retire in. After his dad died, and the house was finally completed, within five years, his mom sold it. The original plan was to keep that property in our family going forward. Though the price I am sure has gone up considerably, I would make every effort to get the house that Jack built (killed himself to build, or maybe that’s what kept him alive five years after the diagnosis) back into our family name. That is a possession I would truly cherish.

Then I would do the other “normal” shit people who win the lottery do: pay off my bills; move to the mountains – possibly in Colorado, Oregon or Arkansas; replace my 10-year old car; buy a little place in Panama City Beach, Florida, for my beach fix; play Santa Claus to a few family members and friends; and last but not least . . . take the family to Disneyland, of course 🙂 I’m kind of a simple woman like that.

I don’t know, just something I was thinking about . . .

Do you have a list like that?

26 thoughts on “Lottery To Do List”

    1. Thanks so much Wendy – glad you enjoyed my thinking aloud! If only it didn’t take money LOL 😉 Hope you continue reading! I will definitely be checking out your posts, too ☮

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  3. Pingback: Weekly Writing Challenge: List Lesson | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss

  4. It’s very touching Sadie, that you would remember the little boy buried without a headstone. Or that you would dedicate funds to provide services for the homeless. It speaks volumes to your attitude of giving and caring. I don’t have a list (not a list person except when necessary) but I do sometimes contemplate it. My thoughts change from time to time and there are no consistent themes.

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    1. Thank you Paul! These are things that I think of quite a bit – my experiences, like everyone else’s, have touched and shaped me and what I consider important. I am a major list maker, if not on paper in my head 🙂 My thoughts about this change a little as time goes on, but those 4 things have been on “my lotto list” for quite some time. Now, if only I would win LOL!!! 😉

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    1. bodhisattvaintraining – that makes me happy to know that something I wrote affects someone else in that manner – that is my whole purpose. NEVER to make anyone think like me, just to think about things in general, even if something I write about leads someone to really think about something else. Does that make sense? Thanks so much for reading and commenting – and sharing that. Your comment means a lot!!! 🙂

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  8. “Do you have a list like that?”

    Not really Sadie. I am more selfish.
    But it is refreshing to know there are people like you in the world.
    It gives me hope.
    You are a very good person and I love your writings and musings.
    Peace,
    Lance

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    1. Thanks so much for the read & the comment, Lance! I can have a selfish streak myself 🙂 I just know if I ever get blessed with lots of money, I want to pay it forward – cause as quickly as it comes to you, it can be taken away . . . and the things I mentioned doing are things that I am passionate about. I love your writings & musings, too! ☮

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  9. This was a bit depressing, poor little kid, and poor mother of yours and grandma. I too had my grandma in a nursing home before she died, regretted not being able to be there when she passed. But I was there until the end with my uncle passing away the 1 of March of this year and although it was a slow and painful death I´m glad I was there for him. Strong guy, never lost his cool or cried and always tried to laugh with my nutty stories. I can surely know how your mom would feel living with no roof, hard to get out of that life once your in it deep. So I´m glad you thought of things to do list as to inspect nursing homes and building homeless shelters or just helping people a little to see if then they can get by themselves on their own two feet.

    About your husband, what is it he was ill for if you don´t mind me being nosy? Don´t have to answer.

    And him and me do have one thing in common, we like to get our hands dirty and build things with our hands. I like it, when you finally see the finish “project” you spend hours sweating for finally be of some value for something.

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    1. Thanks for the read & your comment! Yes, they are some pretty depressing things – which is why I think they are always on my “if I ever have lots of $$ list” – meaning I must’ve won the lotto LOL! It was my husband’s dad who was sick – he had prostate cancer that metastasized to his bones. That was a slow painful death that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy . . .
      I’ll have to post a pic of the house someday – it was awesome!!!

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        1. I have a friend who has pancreatitis – was in her early 20s when she was diagnosed – she is now in her 30s & has a beautiful little girl! Don’t go picking out your headstone yet!! Just gotta eat right most of the time & try not to drink much at all. Yeah I know that sucks!!!! Mind over matter charlypriest & from what I have read about you on your blog – you got this shit 🙂

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          1. Hopefully Sadie, I´ll try that my brain doesn´t play tricks on me and I keep eating healthy and certainly not drinking. But is still tough, it sucks not to eat my burgers!

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  10. Hey, you used to write amazing, but the last couple of posts have been kinda boring I miss your tremendous writings. Past couple of posts are just a little out of track! come on!

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    1. Thanks for reading & commenting Johnd734! I am glad you enjoy my commentary on current events . . . sometimes I need a break from the chaos – otherwise I may never be amazing again LOL 😉 I have more coming . . .

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        1. Thanks Paul!! LMAO . . . spam filter didn’t block it out, so figured if I had to do anything (like read & hit the delete button on these John Doe’s), might as well have fun with it & make it work to my advantage 😉

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