At about 9:30 in the morning, I hear a loud knocking on my front door. I have just woken up, and I am slowly getting out of bed. I probably look beyond disheveled, but it is too early on a Saturday morning to care about my appearance. Whoever is waiting behind that door is very impatient; they incessantly continue to ring the doorbell, sending a loud chime throughout the house making my gentle morning ears cringe. I have no idea who this could be. As soon as I open the door I am being shouted at by reporters and people with cameras. “SURPRISE!” they all yell in unison. I have no clue what’s going on, and I can feel my cheeks turning red and a heat wave flushing over me. I feel myself starting to inadvertently make a sour face, the kind you make when you taste too much lemon in your big glass of lemonade. A news reporter pushes past the cameras to get closer to me. “Hello ma’am! Ronnie Withers, reporting for WLTV. You must be Kate, correct?” I nod with a questioning look on my face, thinking who is this man and how does he know my name. “Well good morning, Kate! And it is indeed a good morning because we are here to inform you that you have won the 1 million dollar prize from the random raffle you entered at your local grocery store!”, he explains. All of a sudden everything feels like a dream- one of those good dreams where you don’t want to wake up so you can see what happens in the end. I flash back to my last visit to the grocery and remember seeing the big red sign at the register saying: “MILLION DOLLAR DRAWING TO BE HELD NEXT SATURDAY! Ask your cashier for more information.” I have never had good luck at these types of things- well, I’ve never really had good luck in general. But that day I decided to take a chance. I vividly remember writing my information down on a little slip of paper to throw in amongst the many other entries. I mean, pay one dollar for a chance to win a million? Seemed reasonable enough to me. However, I never thought that I, Kate Starring, would ever actually win something like this. After pondering the past for quite a bit, I snap back to reality and look at all the reporters waiting, arms outstretched with microphones, for any reaction. Since I already look a mess and I am wearing my comfy penguin PJ’s on tv, I might as well put on a show. So I put my hands in the air and start screaming, “I won! I won! Oh, marvelous day!” I also throw in a few of my super skilled dance moves. After I have finished making a fool of myself, I see two men in suits start walking up to my door with one of those huge checks- I’ve always wanted one of those huge checks. My eyebrows shoot up, and my eyes widen with excitement as they stand in front of me with the million dollar check that I have just won. Just as I am about to take a picture with my large check, Ronnie the reporter interrupts and says he has something important to say. “This is very exciting, I know, however…there’s a catch,” he says. Of course there’s a catch- why wouldn’t there be a catch! My luck isn’t that good. He explains, “The million dollars is all for you to spend however you wish to spend it. But, you will only have one week, that’s seven days, to spend your winnings.” Only me- this situation would only happen to me of all people. I have already anticipated what his next question will be. Ronnie asks, “So how will you, Kate Starring, choose to spend this million dollar prize?” He totally put me on the spot; a woman needs time to think things over- shouldn’t he have learned by now! He and the other reporters and camera people agree to give me a few minutes to come up with my answers. I can think of several things I would like to do with a million dollars, but I certainly couldn’t do them in a week’s time. After careful consideration, I tell Ronnie Withers I’m ready to tell everyone. “Hello, Ronnie Withers here. And we are back with Kate Starring who has just been notified that she has one week to spend a million dollars she just won from a raffle. So tell us, Kate, what do you plan to do with the money?” Ronnie asks. “Well,” I start, “First I would like to go on a weekend vacation with a few friends to Hawaii. I will pay for the ridiculously expensive trip I would have never been able to purchase prior to my winning. We will lounge around on the warm beaches sniffing sea breeze all day and dip our toes into the soft, cool water.” Everyone looks intrigued, and of course Ronnie has something to say. “Well, Kate, that sounds splendid but surely there is a lot more you can do afterwards,” he says. I say, “I’m not done yet, Ronnie,” sounding a bit more sarcastic and harsh than intended. I continue, “When me and my friends return from our wonderful beach vacation, I will buy myself a brand new house. It will be one of those huge gorgeous houses in the nicest neighborhood in town.” I consider what kind of money I would have left after these expenses, and I know exactly what to do with the rest of the money. I look straight into the camera and say, “After the trip and the purchase of the new house, I will have about $100,000 left over. I would like to donate this money to the Children’s Hospital downtown. The families there need it more than I do.” The crowd of people gathered on my doorstep on this breezy summer morning all sigh. I hear comments like, “aww,” and, “that’s so kind of you,” and stuff like that. I feel great about the way I have chosen to spend my money. So after a crazy, unexpected, and pleasant Saturday morning, I send a message to my three closest friends. It says: “Pack your bags, ladies. We’re going to Hawaii!”