If I had a million dollars
I'd build a tree fort in our yard
If I had a million dollars
You could help, it wouldn't be that hard
If I had a million dollars
Maybe we could put like a little tiny fridge in there somewhere

If anyone has ever had any doubts about what I would do if I (by some weird, bizarre chance) became ridiculously wealthy, this is part of it.

And this kind of thing would likely be the other part.

Myself, I'd want a giant, sun-washed kitchen with a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, and a mini blowtorch hanging on the wall (you know... in case.) My own bedroom, because I need to not-sleep sometimes. A bike, a skateboard, rollerblades, and means of maintaining them; a wok and bamboo spatula, a blender, a rice cooker with steamer, a cutting board and a sharp santoku knife.

Bookshelves. And ready access to a maker space that's full of people using awesome tools (laser cutter in the garage, a welding shed, etc.) to Make Things to Solve Problems, with mess rooms for painting and the like, a music room, an open room with mats and mirrors for dancing and wrestling and learning how to do backflips, an organic garden in the back for Produce of Awesome for my kitchen, and whiteboard walls.

And then enough to feed me, let me fly (coach - though I would like to, just once, fly across an ocean first class) to visit people occasionally, and study... anything I want. Tuition money, basically.

Aside from the kitchen - and that's why I visit and cook at other people's houses -  I almost have all of this, actually. Not so much "ready access" to these spaces (note to self: move to Cambridge, not East Boston), but I can do these things if I want to - I have friends who'll teach me things while I'm saving for grad school tuition, I have...

And I can reach beyond myself and do things with my time and with myself instead of with the money I don't have - maybe will never have. Having money would sure be nice. It makes a lot of things much easier. It helps. It helps you not worry as much. (Sometimes I worry.)

I'm not rich. But my life is.

This is what counts, right?