What would I do with $7.5 million?
During our recent long-weekend family vacation, I had the luxury of sleeping late enough to linger on a dream. I won $7.5 million in some kind of a contest. (The kind of contest was not revealed to me – dreams are so funny in how they give us such random details and leave out others.)
The first thing I thought of was how I would get two more Solatubes for our living area and hallway. (The two we currently have are wonderful!)
I ended up paying off our mortgage. We kept our two current vehicles – but I spent some money fixing them up to perfection.
Being a car guy, I pondered how fun it would be to get a fairly new sports car. (Even though I was a millionaire, I could not fathom spending the extra for a brand-new car. Some aspects of my thinking will never change.) But in the end, I decided against it, as I could not store it on the street and thereby show off our wealth. Our minivan would need to stay in our one-car garage, as it’s such a pain to clean off the snow on winter mornings.
Much of my dream was spent in figuring out how I would give to our missionary friends. That was a tangle of thoughts. Investment of the money was tied into that – as of course we would need to live off the income for years to come and be able to continue giving.
So overall, the money in my dream was not a fun thing. I guess that’s a indication that life is good the way it is.
Lest you think I am a total killjoy, in the dream I booked first-class air travel for an upcoming (real life) long trip in the fall – for myself and all those traveling with me. Long trans-oceanic flights are brutal. I’ve often dreamed of how nice it would be to experience one of those voyages in a total-recline seat.
Paul – I gotta be honest, I’m a bit disappointed in you… BMW the best you can do for a sports car. What about?… http://www.caterham.co.uk/assets/html/preowned/preowned_csr_details.html?ID=516
Don’t forget you’ll have the minivan for practicality 😉
Agreed, Phil – a Caterham is quite a fun car – but alas, when the rain comes…
That’s why you have the sensible mini-van. Caterham is probably only good for use on two or three days out of the year – even fewer in the UK which is strange when you think that the company’s based here.
Sometimes sensible is boring. Sigh.
I’ve always been practical in my daydreaming, too: mortgages paid off, reliable cars, gifts to missionary friends, some upgrades to furniture and tools, and then a little travel. I’ve never been able to justify the extra expense of first class, although 14 hours in coach is miserable.
Paul, I would be fairly practical about the money too but I get so excited to give it away to all the missionaries that I know! That would be the best part, that and I would hopefully get to be a missionary then. (: And, yes, Erik would get his own airplane so that we could fly first class all the time. (:
Looking forward to hanging out tonight!
You are right, Dawn – that money would allow some new freedoms… it would be so cool if Erik could have his own plane.
We are looking forward to this evening too!
Hey, as long as you were dreaming, why didn’t you buy First Class seats for me from Newark to London and London to Nairobi for my flights Friday night and Saturday? I’m disappointed in your lack of generosity. 😀
I’d be happy to add that to the list of things I’d spend my $7.5 million on, Bob.