It’s been quite a morning here.  I pulled out the long underwear.  I never remember to keep track of when I do that each year but I do think it’s earlier this year.  I’ve been cold for a week, huddled in front of the space heater, moaning to everyone who would listen.  The world is divided into people who love the onset of cold weather and those of us who don’t.  An indecent number of my friends are ecstatic and I’m huddled in front of the space heater quietly loathing them.

After donning the long underwear, a turtleneck and warm pants, I drove to the supermarket where I bought butter, sour cream, avocados, cucumbers, and two Powerball tickets.  I was behind a man and his two young sons who threw a $20 bill at the lottery machine and walked away with 10 numbers.

Went to the gas station and went inside to pay in cash (it’s 20 cents a gallon cheaper if you give them cash) and was behind a woman who was buying Powerball tickets, some for which she chose the numbers and some for quick picks.  She was also having the cashier check her old tickets to see if she had won anything (she hadn’t).  I was a little tight-lipped by the time I got to the register but the cashier was tight-lipped over gritted teeth. I was a little chirpy and happy but she gave me the look and I subsided.

The rest of the way home I was thinking of what I would do when I realized I had the winning ticket (like !.7 billion dollars) and smiled all the time.  First, I would phone two girlfriends and ask for their Social Security numbers.  They would know that meant I had a winning ticket and was turning in our three names as the winners. Second, I would phone my attorney and ask him what to do next, in what order.  Then I would phone my accountant.

For the rest of the day I will imagine many scenarios of what I will do with my winnings.  I may even write about it.  It’s such fun to be rich for a day.  

I’m also going to watch Waking Ned Devine, a funny movie made in Ireland in 1999, about a lottery win.