Thinking About What I'd Do If My Kids Were Grown And I Had Unlimited Financial Resources (or, Selfish & Materialistic Musings Rearing Their Ugly Heads On A Rainy Day)

Mercedez-Benz convertible. The only car I've ever seen that "did it for me."

A one-year sabbatical, live in Manhattan, and write the book (or books) that I have bouncing around in my brain.

Visit churches all over the U.S. and Canada (with extensive stays in the Pacific Northwest), checking out whatever they are doing and writing a perscriptive and preventative book about how the American church is, in Larry Mercer's words, "in big trouble."

Work on a doctorate.

Own a beach condo on Orange Beach(complete with hurricane insurance) so my wife could get away from it all there.

Ski every winter, and take lots of friends.

Season tickets to Auburn (while I'm dreaming, my kids are at Auburn on softball and fine arts scholarships so I can afford my doctoral work) football in a luxury suite and season tickets to the Dallas Stars hockey games. I'd like a weekend package of tickets to the Rangers baseball games.

Purchase all those CD's and books I'd been meaning to get after...I'd imagine I'd spend about $3,000 on all that.

Start all the big time projects at my house: Deck/patio/jacuzzi/shed/horseshoe pit in the backyard; finish landscaping in the front yard; office for Tracy; writer's area/library for me; movie watching/sports room.

Get the Fender Jazzmaster guitar I've had my eye on, complete with footpedals and monster amp.

I have no idea what this reveals about me, but I guess the negative ions in the rainy Dallas air today has me in an especially shallow mood.