To answer this prompt I have to open up a bit and make myself vulnerable. There are two things that come to mind for what I’m most scared to do.

I happened to be awake just after midnight and got a sneak peek at today’s prompt, so I took a moment to think about it as I fell asleep. The first thing that came to mind was how scared I would be to quit my job, and the different reasons for doing such a thing in the first place.

The idea of quitting my job has been in the back of my mind for a long time because it’s primarily tied to the idea of trying to write full time for a living. Having a job working for a large organization means stability and security. Getting a steady paycheck, benefits, and insurance makes life easier. Going down the route of writing full time more or less means being self-employed and income would fluctuate based on sales and contracts, while benefits and insurance would be 100% self-funded. I know it’s doable, I just don’t have the foundation to make that kind of leap to begin with, but the idea still scares the hell out of me. If I wanted to be able to do it at all I would need to have some substantial savings in place and hopefully land a contract with a publisher that provides me some measure of reliability.

The other thing that scares me to do is meet people, and I don’t mean just casually through work or something.

Meeting people with the intent of building a relationship, either platonic or romantic, scares me because it means investing time. Time you don’t get back that could have been used meeting other people should things otherwise go south. It also means opening up to put yourself out there at the risk of being hurt and disappointed. Romantically I’ve been burned a few times, and found that I’m just fine on my own. Platonically I’ve been betrayed or learned something about a person that I didn’t vibe with at all and needed to check out. It’s hard to find people that you can truly connect with and not find something that is a huge red flag. I don’t want to waste that kind of time and effort. I keep my social group small because of this. We’ve built up that trust and respect, setting the appropriate boundaries needed for each of us to be transparently ourselves. Nobody is 100% transparent in public, and for me to want to be comfortable with meeting people, to build those new relationships, means needing a space I can feel comfortable in for openly sharing who I am while trusting that others are doing the same with clear intentions. You would think places like that exist, but that’s entirely dependent on the people at those places regardless of the people running it.

I’m just going to keep on rambling if I go further, so I’ll leave things there.

It should come as no shock to anyone that, given my hobbies, I do not play a lot of sports. However, I DO play some sports. I don’t invest heavily in them, but I enjoy them well enough as is. I also do not go out of my way to watch any particular sports, even if I do like to play them.

First off, sports I enjoy playing are bowling and golfing.

Bowling started around age 10 when a friend of mine invited me to join his youth bowling team. His mom talked with my mom, they got things squared away, and I played two seasons. Of course, my younger brother needed to join us as well, and it was fortunate that my friend has a younger sister about the same age, so they were on a team in their age bracket. Unfortunately, life took some odd turns, so we only played those two seasons, and then we stopped. I did still enjoy bowling in high school and beyond, though, and it was an odd stroke of luck that when my family moved to South Dakota we found a couple of the small farm towns in the area had their own bowling alleys. So I got to play, sometimes even for free because I had friends who worked part time there.

I didn’t pick up golfing until high school. My Dad gave me a set of used clubs and I happened to have a friend who liked golfing, so I was able to go with him a couple times. Of course, again, it wasn’t for long because we moved to South Dakota shortly thereafter, and in another odd stroke of luck the small farm town where I finished high school has a golf course. Sadly I didn’t make any friends that golfed, so all I did was hit the driving range a few times now and again. Then I took like a ten year hiatus because I moved around a bit during college. Now, my oldest nephew is getting into golf, and I’ve gotten to go with him and my sister’s a few times!

Outside of actually playing those sports, I don’t watch them in any way. I occasionally watch soccer and football with friends and family, but I won’t go out of my way to do so. Same as with any other sport. It’s just not my thing.

Winning the lottery would be life changing. Who wouldn’t want to win a massive amount of money? The things you could do…

Well, over the last 15 years or so I’ve talked at length with a few select friends and a couple of family members about such a wildly improbable scenario. I’ve done my research, and even read the news articles about past winners, to help devise a very serious plan.

The first step would be to not tell anyone. At all. Nobody can know if I had won the lottery and won hundreds of millions of dollars.

The second step would be to sign the back of the ticket, ensuring nobody else can claim it over my dead body.

The third and fourth steps are crucial. I would store the ticket somewhere safe, and then get in contact with lawyers that specialize in large estates. Preferably from a reputable law firm with offices all over the country.

Then the real planning could begin.

Evaluating my current life situation, from debts to threats and all things in-between.

Paying off debts is a no-brainer. Don’t want to leave yourself open and give anyone a way to collect more than they’re owed. Figuring out the necessary safety and security measures for myself and loved ones is incredibly important as well.

I’m sure some of you have seen the memes.

“If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t say anything, but there would be signs.”

I’d try to minimize those signs, for safety.

I would obviously do a few things to elevate my situation, such as buying a house and some toys. Then, with the help of the lawyers and accountants, set up for the future. Regular disbursement of funds for bills, investing, charity, etc.

That’s the gist of it!

The parents get older, the kids become adults and go off to start their own lives. Parents and other older adults pass away. The younger adults start families, have kids of their own, and the cycle repeats itself. And within that cycle are traditions that get handed down through the generations.

That’s how it is supposed to work, anyways. My family has had traditions change because of all the things mentioned above.

We still get together for most holidays, except the family has grown and we celebrate at my brother’s house instead of at our parents. Thanksgiving is still turkey and sides, Christmas is a little different every year but we have a couple of different meal plans that we juggle depending on what everyone is feeling.

After the passing of my stepmom a couple of years ago we started a new tradition of getting together on Sunday’s for lunch or dinner, depending on the time of year and weather. Winter is hit and miss because of travel conditions.

Nothing special or exciting, we just want to spend time together.