When We Have Money

At home, we often make lists of the things we would do "if we had money". Sometimes, we upgrade the statement to say, "when we have money". For the most part, our list is pretty reasonable. We don't put things like "buy a small island nation" or anything like that. I wouldn't even know what to do with a small island nation anyway.

So, what follows is the list of things that we would think about doing, if money were not an issue:

1. Travel - It doesn't matter where. We just want to go around the world. Even when we don't have money, travel tends to be a pretty high priority. Hopefully, this travel would be meaningful travel. Not just sitting on a tour bus. We still want to volunteer, learn, explore.
   
2. Buy new luggage (you know, for all that travel we are going to be doing)
   
3. Buy a new leather jacket to replace the one that got stolen in San Antonio (while I was traveling - but for work).
4. Philanthropy - This is another major theme. There are a number of things that we would like to support in a substantial way. Augsburg College. The Naming Project. Lutherans Concerned/North America. Minnesota Public Radio. Lutheran Social Services. Southside Family Nurturing Center. Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry. The Aliveness Project.
   
5. Travel in order to do philanthropy would be nice.
   
6. Repaint our house
7. Landscape the backyard.
8. Sell our current house and live in one of those very cool condo/apartments in downtown Minneapolis.
9. Eat out and go out!

Since I like philanthropy and eating out, I should point out to you in the Twin Cities area that this Thursday, April 30 is Dining Out for Life. I encourage you to go out to eat for lunch and/or dinner at the restaurants listed on the link. They will donate a portion of their proceeds to the Aliveness Project. The mission of The Aliveness Project is to encourage self-empowerment and provide direct services for persons living with HIV/AIDS. They are a good organization that does great work.

See, philanthropy can be fun. Now I just have to figure out how to work travel into it.