Jackpot!

Chad decided to play the Mega Millions lottery on the way home last night. The pot was up to $212 million and, since the odds of winning were lower than the value of the jackpot, he thought it was worth it. He asked which numbers I wanted to play. I said 3, 29, 10, 20, 6, and 4 (our birthdays and anniversary). He also chose a set of numbers--the numbers of his six favorite Chicago sports players of all-time--and bought three random tickets.

The entire way home from work, I thought about what I'd do with all of that money. It was actually a nice break from traffic. We'd pay off the debts of all of our immediate family, ensure that all of our nieces' and nephews' college was paid for, and I'd give the women's homeless shelter where I volunteer money to buy their own building. That's about as far as I got.

The more I thought about it, though, the more doubt crept into my mind on if I really wanted to win. Would I turn down $212 million? No. But it would make life infinitely more complicated. Everyone would want money. It could lead to hard feelings among friends and family. Would I quit my job? Would we move? Yuck...would we have to hire security? Who would give us good advice on what to do with all of this money? I've heard enough stories of lotto winners who blew it that I started to wonder if I even wanted to deal with this.

So when I found out we didn't win, I was a little disappointed and a little relieved. But someone's life out there is about to get very interesting: the winning ticket was sold in New Jersey.