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10.11.2006

someone's got to win

I used to roll my eyes when I found my mother sitting in the living room making lists of what should would do if she won the Connecticut State Lottery. She didn’t even play that often. What did I know. Over the next decade, I would know three people who won the Connecticut State Lottery. (It’s a small state.) One friend pocketed $3,000. He put the funds in his savings account. The brother of another friend won $10,000. He used his winnings as seed money to open a store. Best for last: My friend’s mother took home $1 million. She split it with her friend. They'd bought the winning ticket on their way to a GamAnon meeting. Their husbands gambled with abandon. They were addicted. The win brought these two women financial security for the first time in their lives. Of course they wouldn’t give their husbands access to the money.

So, sigh. Here I am, spending more then a few fleeting seconds fantasizing about what I would do if I won a sweeps. At worst, I am becoming my mother. I make mental lists of what I would do if I won this trip or that. I also seem to have developed a similar repertoire of sighs. At best, I am engaging in productive fantasy that wards off the ennui that could, if unchecked, engulf my existence. That wouldn't be very much fun.

This morning, my sweeps fantasy involves Utah. Travelocity and the Utah Office of Tourism have partnered-what an annoying verb, let me rewrite that—are sponsoring a three-day stay in Utah, summer or winter. The prize includes roundtrip airfare but not a car rental. Who cares! I keep hearing great things about Park City, summer and winter. Vroom, vroom. Watch my dust.

To enter, click HERE. The sweeps closes on October 31. (Boo!)