If I Won the Lottery by Ricky

     When I win the lottery, if I ever play, I will do what the majority of people will do; share some with family, pay off the mortgage and other bills, and perhaps buy a newer car. Depending upon the amount won, there may be varying amounts of funds left over after all the foregoing activity. Thus, the following list is what I think I would do if the financial opportunity exists after accomplishing the things in the above list. The list is in no particular order as there is no way to predict the amount of winnings.

     1. Build a private, GLBT, high-rise senior citizen center. Under the ground floor would be a large parking garage part of which is open to the public for a small fee. The resident parking area would have wide diagonal parking spaces for each unit of the high rise. The ground floor would house a super-size grocery/department store.  

     The second floor would house geriatric medical facilities (to include a non-emergency clinic for minor medical issues but staffed by trained emergency room doctors and nurses). These facilities, except the clinic, would be open to the public.

     The third floor will house two swimming pools; one for residents and one for non-residents (for a membership). Both swimming areas will also have typical gym exercise equipment and other related facilities.

     All floors above would consist of living spaces of various designs to accommodate senior GLBT citizens and their partners and dependents (if any).

     Separate stairs and lifts will keep the general public out of the residents and their “guests-only” areas. The top three floors will be dedicated to: senior and diabetic-menu eating facilities; a solarium; recreation rooms and areas.

     2. Build a similar structure for “troubled” GLBT children, adolescents, teens, and their parents (if needed). This structure would not be open to the public, except for the medical facilities and therapists, and the medical facilities will be tailored to meet the needs of pediatricians and therapists. There would also be private school and day care facilities on site. 

     The upper floors would have some apartments designed for the homeless who had children who qualified to live in the facility so that families could stay together. Other apartments would be for single teens who don't have families or who need shelter. 

     Younger children needing to be temporarily away from their parents or whose parents are in long or short-term custody would live in age appropriate small dorms each with a state-licensed dorm mother and father foster care parents and who are official staff so there is no need for them to work anywhere else – the children being their only concern.

     3. Trusts for my grandchildren.

     4. A trust for a budding artist named Edgar, who is 16, extremely handsome, and (as I write this) working as a busboy at a local Mexican restaurant.

     5. Visit England and Australia.

     6. Visit and perhaps move to Tahiti.

© 10 June 2012


About the Author

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, CA

Ricky was born in June of 1948 in downtown Los Angeles, California. He lived first in Lawndale and then in Redondo Beach both suburbs of LA. Just prior to turning 8 years old, he went to live with his grandparents on their farm in Isanti County, Minnesota for two years while (unknown to him) his parents obtained a divorce.

When united with his mother and new stepfather, he lived at Emerald Bay and then at South Lake Tahoe, California, graduating from South Tahoe High School in 1966. After two tours of duty with the Air Force, he moved to Denver, Colorado where he lived with his wife of 27 years and their four children. His wife passed away from complications of breast cancer four days after 9-11.

He came out as a gay man in the summer of 2010. “I find writing these memories to be very therapeutic.”

Ricky's story blog is “TheTahoeBoy.blogspot.com”.