Soft

And now, an out of fashion meme. Ten things. That you would do with a multi-million (dollar, euro - take your pick, this much and it don't much matter) prize. Complete windfall. After taxes, a sum between say, ten and fifty million monetary units. More than you can spend in a lifetime at your current income.

1. Refurbish this house, after paying off the mortgage. Say a cool million to replace the roof with solar panels, landscape the front into a desert friendly garden, new chimney, repaint everything, Japanese bath in back, new garage with door, finish the basement into a well-lit workshop with tools, replumb, repave the drive, that sort of thing.

2. Clear friends and family of their mortgages, preferably anonymously. College funds to their kids, or to them to return to school. Not extravagant gifts, opportunities.

3. Foundations, that will become at least party self-sustaining, then find people to run them. They will fill niches for obscure skills or neglected areas of research, or peculiar dreams. This is the alternate question, if a friend who won a lottery wants to do this, and offers you the chance at a living income to research something, or fill a small need in your community, what would you do?

4. Scholarships. But with oddball requirements. Like David Letterman has a scholarship set up at his alma mater for C students. Maybe I'll have one set up for middle age nursing students who are veterans and blog about their cat.

5. Travel in absolute comfort, not stay in fancy hotels, just the moving about bit will be first class. Visit Istanbul and Roman ruins in Britain, maybe a tropical island for completeness, boat up fjords to see glaciers. Or travel on a reproduction sailing ship, join an archeological dig, beachcomb.

6. Build a small pottery, with kiln, and invite amateur potters to use it.

7. Rent a space good for dancing, lots of wood, good acoustics, and have dances for bellydancers, and Singings for Sacred Harp singers, and be open to other community artful expressions.

8. Actually, we would probably move to a coast, live near the ocean, eventually. As I would, after a few years, not do the job I'm doing, but run a foundation researching weird questions, writing. Best not to upset everything all at once. And I do like what I do most days.

9. Clothes. Yes, I know, petty, but I would have the most lovely, elegant, comfortable clothes, natural fabrics, warm in winter, cool in summer, well made and full of color, to the end of my days.

10. Linens. Yup, that as well. The best sheets, woolen blankets, biggest softest towels, most amazing oriental carpets. Yes, running out of big things, but these last two little things are just as much from the heart.