Saturday 26 February 2011

I don't want to win the lottery


Yesterday we were on our way home from Costco when Shaune asked if he should drop me and the kids off at home before picking up his lottery tickets.

Why don't you just stop now and grab them at the grocery store? We need some soy sauce anyway. I suggested.

Fine he said, but I don't buy my tickets at the grocery store, you know that.

Right, I forgot.

He buys them at the Arabic variety store around the corner from us. The one that also sells Halal meat, fresh produce and a decent selection of spices. He loves this little store, feels like he's supporting the independent business sector. He reminded me of this - again. How he just loves the owner and would rather give his money to him over some "fat-cat" grocery store corporation.  He tells me (again) how the retailer would get a percentage of the winnings should he play a lucky enough ticket. Rhetorically, he asks me if I'd like to see the "fat-cat" stay on top when independent business owners struggle to stay competitive.

No, of course not, I mumble as if on cue. (He loves that term fat-cat)
I love this about my husband, his sense of loyalty, the ease with which he builds relationships with people regardless of class, ethnicity or faith. He's the only (white) person I've ever met who can spot racism a mile away and isn't afraid to speak up. I think he's a good father for two biracial boys to have. The right husband for a brown woman in a white society.

But he's downright superstitious when it comes to those lottery tickets. Plays the same numbers twice a week. Same store. Without fail.

Me? I could care less about the lottery. I like my life the way it is, thank you very much. I rejoice when I've found a bargain, earned a paycheck. Love knowing we can finally afford something. My heart races everytime I look at my kijiji* kitchen table.

I like going to work.

But you could work if we were rich, it would just be work you wanted to do, says Shaune. We could be philanthropists! You could write.

Here's the thing. I love finding a few minutes a day to squeeze in writing. Feel accomplished cleaning my modest little house. Guilt-free I put on my clearance-rack jeans and know that I'm giving my children what I can. I don't want my sons to be future Paris Hiltons, heirs to fortunes they didn't earn.

And the honest truth?

I'm not sure if I'm motivated enough to work if I didn't have to. I'm afraid of who I might become if money was no object.

You might be rolling your eyes. But I'm serious. Have you watched those people on TLC's The Lottery Changed My Life? In their gas-guzzling Hummers and Escalades. Very few of them give money to those who really need it.
I think I'll just stick to the life I was given, the one I'm earning. I like how Sheryl Crow put it in that song.
It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got.

*kijiji is Canada's version of a Craig's list

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful philosophy on life :-)

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  2. I completely agree with you. If we won the lotto, I'd want to just give most of it away.

    I love all the pictures of your kids in this post. Some really cute ones.

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  3. great photos today.
    just as a note - not to lecture or to take sides - but money wouldn't change you. a good heart, solid ethics, love of the life you have - nothing changes with money. Money lets you put a college fund aside for the boys. It lets you buy a washing machine for a women with 4 kids that goes to your church. do not the is NOT judge having money by those idiot TV shows.
    the baby is really beautiful...and trying to walk.... I can't believe it.

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  4. That last sentence is it in a nutshell. I think that the lotto probably would just make us miserable. I still play about once a year. I guess that's just my way of supporting "older Pennsylvanians." That's what the lottery commercials say I'm doing!

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  5. I don't buy lottery tickets. And while I wouldn't turn away the chance to prove that winning wouldn't turn me into a greedy person, I don't long for huge amounts of money.

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  6. Beautifully stated. Don't you feel like you'd already won the lottery with the lovely family you have? I know I feel that way about my husband and kids. I wouldn't have it any other way.

    And I find your hubby's sense of loyalty to the shop very charming.

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  7. I agree with you. I don't play the lotto because I really like my life as is, but I would not object to my hubby winning...LOL! I would still work...maybe start a business and a charitable foundation. Shaune has the right/write idea!

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  8. I am with you 100% on this. I think it's good to be mindful of what it's like not having everything we think we need. I'm always surprised at what people who come into a lot of money spend it on-usually not what I would. I like my simpler life too.

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  9. You really know how to get right to what is important and what we should all be focusing on. Thanks my friend. The pictures are beautiful.

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