We all daydream from time to time what we’d do if we hit it big in the lottery. This week the jackpot was $438 million. I can’t even wrap my head around how much that is.
That isn’t the ‘I’ll help my family” kind of money. It’s the “I’ll set up a foundation that will help my family and a lot of other people long after I’m gone” kind of money.
But me? After dealing with that pesky MasterCard bill?
The church and Heifers International would each get a big donation. There would be a foundation to fund the care and upkeep of the Ferguson Home Museum until the end of time.
There would be a place in the mountains and one at the Gulf.
Then, with whatever is left, I’d start buying up Watonga. Not the nice houses for sale around town. The sad, falling-in derelict homes that haven’t been loved for a long, long time. And empty lots. And Main Street buildings. Houses would be rehabbed, renovated or rebuilt. Various housing of all sizes would be constructed. Store fronts would be remade to look as they did originally. Perhaps there would be a business incubator established in one of them so that the people who want to start a business have a spot to start without buying a building, putting in the needed utilities and such.
I’d try to buy the middle school on Noble and turn it into senior housing. I know it would cost a fortune, but with $438 million, it could be done.
The Watonga Senior Center would be refitted with the best kitchen money could buy. A few franchised restaurants would spring up around town.
With that kind of money, the right advisers and determination, Watonga could be shining like a fresh-minted penny in my lifetime.
But I don’t have $438 million. I haven’t even bought a ticket and probably won’t.
But I do have determination and a desire in my heart to see that Watonga come to be.
Most of us have the same things going for us. If we just keep working on it, trying, dreaming and building, we will get there. It is almost impossible to deter people with a goal and minds that are made up.