51 Million Dollars and a 9 Year Old

On 35 south there is a huge billboard that boasts the amount of this weeks power ball. I see it every weekend on my way back from Walmart, my favorite place in the world. I always say, where else can you buy bananas and underwear all in one place? Of course the answer to that is SuperTarget way up here in MN, but I prefer Walmart.

So getting back to 51 million smackers. My second accompanied me on the trip this time, even though it was the weekend and 7:30am. I think the allure of being able to pick out the snackies for a Sunday Vikings football game was enough to rouse him out of bed, without any coercing. He happened to see the sign this time and the rest of our ride home was one of those daydream fantasies of what you would use 51 million for. So...... I present to you the list. Created mostly by a nine year old boy with a few add ons by his 37 year old mom.

1. No, I am not one of these people that would keep my job even though I have millions in the bank. Sorry, but I have too many things I've been wanting to do with my life lately and if money can buy more time spent with my family than I'm spendin' it!
2. Fix that ugly wall in our old church he says. And pay it off and fix the roof I add. Throw in an extra million while we're at it!
3. Can't forget our new church here, they have been so supportive, hand over another million!
4. Give our house (that we're currently waiting to sell) away he says, to someone who doesn't have a house. "Just give it", he said.
5. Give Grammy and Poppy and Grandma and Pop Pop two million he says, and buy them a gift certificate for the airport so they can fly in to see us when ever they want.
6. Bask in the relief that financial concerns re. our adoption are no longer a worry. Bring on that referral!!!
7. And adopt a kid from Haiti, he says. And then a teenager from Peru.
8. Build the biggest gosh darn house on 100 acres to accommodate all of these children and the heated and air conditioned rescue shelter in the back for dogs and cats and what the heck, any other creature that needs it.
9. Buy dad a new car, he says.
10. But just fix up mine, I say, and give it a good wash because I like my truck and don't want to get rid of it.
11. Send Grandma and Pop Pop and Grammy and Poppy on a vacation to anywhere they want to go, he says. And give all my Aunts and Uncles some millions too.
12. Sock away enough for all of the kids to go to a four year college. Except for our second who would prefer a two year stint at a culinary school so he could be a chef.
13. Buy a decent computer, I say. And one for Pop Pop too.

Of course the key to winning the lottery is to actually play it. And around here lately, just selling our home back in Maryland would honestly be pretty darn close to winning the lottery. So I'll just keep praying for that!!

I do love it though when I get to have these one on ones in the car, I learn so much about what's in their head at any given moment. He went on to tell me that amid all of the dogs and the tarantula he said he would have when he grew up, that he would also adopt a baby boy someday. I asked him from where and he said Germany. I had to chuckle knowing that out of all of the countries in the world with an over abundance of orphans, Germany wasn't one of them, but who am I to crush my kids future dreams? All I know is that when we ventured into our adoption; one of things my husband and I hoped was that it would encourage our children to someday build their family through adoption too. It made me smile listening to him chatter on in the backseat thinking that it may actually happen!