I rarely buy lottery tickets; I’ve never been big on games of chance, though I have no strong moral objection to them. Occasionally, when a jackpot has grown to a substantial amount, I might buy a ticket (or two, or five). More often than not, though, even with a reminder from my husband (who for most of his adult life has bought at least one ticket a week for one game or another) when a pot is big and a drawing is coming up, I just won’t make it to a store to buy into the dream. That doesn’t keep me from imagining what I would do if I suddenly came into a large fortune, though. Most of us at one time or another have played that game. Yesterday evening I overheard my husband and daughter (who falls somewhere between her dad and I on the habitual-lottery-ticket-buying scale) reviewing their personal lists of what such a windfall would buy for them. These lists always include items under a few predictable broad categories: planning for the future, philanthropic donations, gifts to friends and family, and pure splurges just for oneself. My husband and I have agreed that we’d make sure our daughters would have great educations (which they’ve gotten through hard work and no lottery dollars, anyway) and the ability to buy their own homes and live comfortably. We’d set aside money for retirement and health care needs and give substantially to churches, schools and favorite causes. The real fun comes in dreaming about how we would share our good fortune with loved ones. Always we imagine inviting all those nearest and dearest to us on some fantastic trip to some exotic locale: weeks on a tropical isle, a safari in Africa, private yachting through the Mediterranean, exploring the Far East. In addition, we enumerate the places where we’d purchase vacation homes (which of course we’d make available to our acquaintances when we weren’t in residence ourselves). There’d be a place at the beach – that is, one in the Pacific Northwest in addition to somewhere warm and tropical year ‘round (Tahiti, the Caribbean . . .), some lovely mountain lodge by a pristine lake or trout stream, a condo in any number of world cities for dropping in for a concert, opera or just a little shopping. It could all become a little much to handle, so perhaps just a stunning suite in an elegant five-star hotel would do in those instances. And then there’d be the private jet for getting around the world to visit all the splendid places we’ve always wanted to see. What dreams do you have for your big win? Does travel figure into the equation? If so, which locations or experiences rank high on your wish list? — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor