My daughter-in-law laughed as she gave me a $2 scratch-off for my 73rd birthday. Ten months later, my own son shoved a senior living brochure in front of me and said, “We already picked your room.” They thought I was too old to fight back. They had no idea what I had been hiding.

The advertised prize was five million dollars.

I chose the cash option, and after the applicable withholdings and later tax planning, what remained was still a sum so enormous that I had to write it down before I believed it.

Richard did not celebrate by telling me to buy a car.

He asked a question no one in my family had asked in years.

“What do you want your life to look like?”

I almost answered that I didn’t know.