Welcome to My Bumpy Ride.......

Before you all read on, I guess it is best to introduce myself to you and let you know a bit about myself. I am Susan, and first and foremost, I am a mother to a wonderful young man. Though he is grown, he will always be that three year old little boy, that asked all those questions and expected answers to them all. Though I will tell you much about myself in this blog there is no one or nothing that is as important to me as him, even if I don't discuss him much, because he kina likes to remain private.

For years I was actively trying to find myself, but that was a big waste of time, since by doing so I was not living. All my life I have always known that I was "different", but was unable to know why that was. I first thought that perhaps it was because I was adopted, but that was not the case. Turns out, I am bipolar and pretty much have been all my life. This was explained to me about nine years ago when I had a major melt down. I tend to be more on the depressive side, but have on occasion been quite manic. My last episode was early thru mid 2008, with full blown depression. For five months, I bearly left my house, let alone my bed. Why am I telling you this? I just want it out in the open and let you understand that I discuss my illness from time to time.

Present day, I am currently a full time student, studying social work. At the end of 2011 I was approached by a mentor of mine, who mentioned a new program that was going to launch here in Rhode Island. This new program called the Peer Wellness Coaching, was something that I had always wished would become a reality and to add even more excitement was the fact that this mentor was inviting me to train for a position as one of the Peer Wellness Coaches.

So currently (spring 2012) I am part of the three phases of training and should be employed by the fall of 2012. What is even more excellent about this program is that they are aware of my education goals and are willing to work with me on maintaining those goals.

Also you might hear me mention NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), because I am actively involved with them. I am a facilitator and state trainer for the NAMI Connection groups (peer run support group) here in Rhode Island, and I also help teach high school and college students about mental illness through NAMI RI's Inside Mental Illness program.

So with all that being said...I hope you read on to my daily activities and thoughts and such.



Sunday, April 1, 2012

If I had Won the Mega Millions




This past week we had the biggest lottery payout ever, and yes, I bought a couple of tickets in the hopes that I could be a lucky winner, just like everyone else who bought a ticket.  I very rarely partake in the lottery, but with the payout up over 600 million, I just had to join in.  Well, I didn’t win or anything, but it was sure fun imagining what I would do with that kind of money.  Since I enjoyed that fantasy, I figured that I would share it here as well.

Well the first thing I would have to do is give about half of the 600 million back to the government, because well that is what happens.  It is not like they already get half of what we spend to pay the lottery already.  Ok I won’t get on that soap box, so let me stop that thought process head on before I get started.

I would use a third to put in the bank for my son and let him live off the dividends as well as the same for myself, this way both of us are never in need of money.  I would arrange it so we both receive money each month.

So here is what everyone is mostly wondering, what I would do with the other third.  Well that is like a 100 million bucks.  Wow, that does sound like a lot.  I would buy a few homes for people I know, only thing is, I would keep them in my own name and let people I know live in them rent free.  I know that sounds kind of selfish, but after all I am making sure that these people don’t sell the homes and go crazy with the money.  I would want to make sure that they have a home to live in and not have some extra cash for a short period of time.  For these people I would also supply them with a brand new car in their own name, so they can feel comfortable knowing that they had reliable transportation.

My son would also receive one of these homes even though I would give him a large amount of the winnings.  For him I would look into a townhome that is near his school so he wouldn’t have to travel so much.  He would also receive a car from me, but most likely not the kind of car he would really go crazy over.  I would make sure that he was driving around in a hybrid of some sort.  I would also supply his current girlfriend with the same type of car.

Because I love to live alone I would most likely buy Denny his own home.  For him I would buy a multi-family home that can generate an income for him.  He is the only person that I would let him put the house in his own name, because I know him enough to know that he will continue to work even if he himself had won the lottery.  What else I would do for him is to find something that he enjoys doing and find a way to build a business that would stay in my own name with him completely in charge.  Most likely Dennis would choose the same kind of car that I would like my son to drive around in.

I would purchase a small home in Pittsfield, Ma for my friend Darilynn, because I know how she like me likes to live on her own, and if some of her children were aware that she had extra space, they would find a way to move in with her.  I would make sure that the home would have a large fenced in backyard for her dog, so she could let him out more.  For her I would let her pick any car she wanted and I would not hesitate to get it for her.

There are two people in the Albany, Ny area that I would buy homes for them to live in.  The first is Suzanne.  For her I would buy a four family building and give her the second biggest apartment.  You might wonder why I say the second biggest, well the reason why is because between her and her boyfriend, there are six children involved, four his and two hers. I would have his four live in the biggest and each of hers get the other two apartments.  How did I come to that?  Well her oldest is over 25 years old and starting out with her boyfriend and needs a place of her own and her second is in school and works and should be rewarded as such.  Three of Suzanne’s boyfriends kids are still in high school and the one who is out of high school still has not found any direction in his life to warrant him having his own apartment.  There would be four cars that would go to this family, one for Suzanne and one to each of her kids and one to her boyfriend.  Again, the one who can’t seem to find something to do with himself should not be rewarded in my eyes.

The second home that I would buy in the Albany area would be for my friend who recently decided that I was not her friend any longer.  You would wonder why I would do something nice for someone who decided to end our friendship, well it is because I still care about her and well she is going to have a baby soon with a man who may not be able to provide what that baby needs.  I will also put away some money for both her baby to be and her young teenage daughter so they can have money for school.  I would buy Ami a new car as well as a new car for her daughter when she is of age.  I would not expect her friendship back in any way; I just want to make sure that they can have some relief from hardship in their lives.

Because my brother really enjoys the home that he lives in, I will give him the money that is needed to pay the house off and any repairs that he want done to the home.  For him I would get a new car and truck for his work.  Should he choose to go to school I would also make sure that that would be paid for as well.

Now I am not leaving out the various charities that I would like to help, but I want to make sure that whatever monies that I hand over goes directly to those charities and not the pockets of those in charge.  Here are the areas of concern that I would look into: homelessness, mental illness, domestic violence and hearing impaired.

For myself, I would purchase a home in the country that is no bigger than a three bedroom with all new furniture and accessories.  I would buy a few little computer toys and a special area for my two cats in the home.  I would buy myself a Hybrid car.

Here is the thing that might surprise everyone, I would continue to finish my education and work with the homeless who are mentally ill.  I have no reason to quit what it is that I have been working so hard for just because I might have won the lottery.  The only difference would be that I would be able to have more time to study because I could drive myself there and back, rather than spending the hour and a half on the bus each day.  I would be able to not worry about the costs of my books and not have to worry about the trying to find that perfect schedule because of transportation issues.  I might actually be able to take more vacations and feel more secure where I would live, but all in all, I would hopefully be the same person I was.

Well I don’t know, I guess I spent a lot of time thinking about it and for that short period of time it was nice to think about, but I didn’t win and well I am still me anyways.  Well, what would you all have done if you would have won that kind of money?  Was I crazy in my ideas on what to do with it?  Let me know.  TTFN.
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