Like millions of Americans we woke up this morning to the glaring reality that we were not millionaires.  Not even close.  Our chance was  1 in 176 million.  Yesterday the convenience store I stopped in was packed with Mega Millions hopefuls so I didn’t even bother picking meaningful numbers.  I joined them because I’m a money grubbing whore like everyone else I want to support schools in our state by participating in the North Carolina Education Lottery.  I just gave the clerk 10 dollars and got my 10 random, yet ultimately unlucky number combinations.

I tucked the little paper in my purse before Greyson and I headed out for a date night.  This of course sparked the what-we-would-do-if-we-won-640-million-dollars conversation.  “After taxes it would be ONLY about 300 million,” I reminded him.  Greyson chuckled at my naivite at exactly how much fortune that is.

This is what we would have done if we had won:

1. Get legal representation and financial advice pronto.  I am a Dave Ramsey fan.  (Seriously.  I listen to his show nearly every day.  I love hearing about  how people get out of crazy debt.  I know, he’d kill me for playing the lottery, but whatever.)  I told Greyson we would have to fly to Nashville to meet Dave Ramsey.  He was saying on his show Thursday that big time lottery winners often lose everything and have a very high divorce rate.  We would need to devise a plan on what we would invest in and how we would save.  I’d also want us to get marriage counseling as this  would change our whole lives.
2. Do the obligatory media interviews and press conference.  I don’t have a problem with doing satellite interviews with CNN and talking with all my former local news colleagues.  No doubt someone at some network would be so enchanted with our charming little family that we would be offered a reality TV show.  Greyson and I agreed, no reality TV.  It’s bad enough that we’re instant gagillionaires.  We need our privacy, people!
3. Set up college funds for Charlotte and Baby Version 2.0 so they can go anywhere they like.  Except Alabama.  Or Duke.  (War Eagle!  Go Tar Heels!)
4. Pay off this house and buy another.  We’d still live here in Raleigh and rent this one.  We’d also like to invest in other real estate.  We would then buy a house at the beach.
5. Pay off debts of our family members.  I don’t want my sister and brother-in-law, nor my step-brother or step sister to have any student loan debt.  We would only pay debts once, though.
6. Trips!  We’d have an awesome family vacation.  Then Greyson and I would head to somewhere exotic and remote for a week or two.  (Yes, just a week or two.  I’m not gonna be that far from my baby for that long no matter how rich I am.)  
7. Buy new sunglasses.  I just need some and I know I’ll want to spend more than necessary.

As it got down to the drawing last night I got more and more worried we would actually win.  (Shut up!  I hear you laughing!)  Seriously.  I feel like I’m so unbelievebly blessed in my life I don’t want to mess it up.  We always want more “things” like new sunglasses, but honestly I have everything I could really want.

My odds of meeting Greyson and having Charlotte were more than 1 in 176 million.  I already hit the jackpot.

Cha-ching!

We gave up after our first Baby Bracketology video because Charlotte sadly picked the Witchita State Shockers to reign supreme in Men’s College Basketball.  Gone is the dream of my 16-month-old having a near-perfect bracket and chuckling with Matt Lauer during our satellite interview with The Today Show.  (Oh, wait.  The tournament is on CBS.  So it would be The Early Show.  Meh.  Okay.)

Our beloved North Carolina Tar Heels battled their coach-sharing rivals, the Kansas Jayhawks in the Elite Eight today.  Here’s a glimpse.

Greyson couldn’t sit the entire game.

Until the last 3 minutes when he glared at the TV with disdain.

Then he hate-Tweeted and posted snarky Facebook status updates.

With this final score our season ends and the madness is over.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day from us!

“May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!”

-Irish blessing

“You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your father was.”

– Irish Proverb

“A son is a son till he takes him a wife. A daughter is a daughter all of her life.”

 – Irish Proverb

“If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me.”

-Saint Patrick

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures.”

– Irish Proverb

“Here’s to me, and here’s to you. And here’s to love and laughter. I’ll be true as long as you. And not one moment after.”

– Irish toast

“May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.”

-Irish blessing

When I was seven-years-old I wrote fan mail to my favorite News Anchor, in crayon.  With childlike optimism, and a rainbow of colors I predicted my future.  I told her I wanted to be on the news one day.

I get to see that woman every time I go to my in-laws’ home.  Greyson is from Littleton, Colorado.  Adele Arakawa worked in Raleigh before going to Chicago, and then KUSA in Denver.

www.news9.com

In high school I produced, directed, worked the cameras, reported, and anchored for ADTV.  What?  You mean you don’t know what that is? That’s Athens Drive Television at Athens Drive High School.   Oftentimes, even to this day if I see someone from high school, they’ll mention my glory days on the morning announcements.  Hey, someone had to deliver the latest breaking news on the Cross Country team practice, or the Chess Club’s victory.  It was truly fine journalism.

My senior year, all the kids in my class have to give speeches in front of the church as we graduate.  I ended mine with, “I’ll see you on the six ‘o clock news!”  Any time I thought about changing majors, or changing professions.  I thought about that speech.  In my mind, that speech sealed my fate.  I wasn’t going to let everyone (translation: me) down.

After finishing my degree in Media Studies at UNC Greensboro and an internship at WGHP I had no money and the lease on my apartment was up.  I went home to my parents with no idea what I was going to do.

Somehow I managed a job interview at News 14 Carolina in Raleigh.  No one told me walking into that newsroom at 22 years old would change the course of my life.

I was hired as a part-time Associate Producer on the weekends.  I wrote scripts for the newscast.  Very bad scripts.

That’s okay, though.  I mean, I wasn’t gonna stay at that cable news station.  Oh no!  I had my super awesome reporter resume tape from college. ::snicker:: (No, no one will ever see it, ever.  Don’t ask!)  I was sending it out to small stations around the Southeast.  See, in TV news you start out in small markets in Podunk, USA and work your way up.

That’s what I thought anyway.  That is until I met the sports guy at News 14.  Who is he?  Oh, just the guy I’ve been married to for 6 years and have a kid with.  Love has that effect on you.

So I stayed.

I stayed at News 14 knowing it would be hard, well, nearly impossible to start an on-air career at a TV station in a market the size of Raleigh.  Even if it is cable.

But, I did it.

I worked up the ranks.  As an Assignment Editor I pulled my hair out coordinating the day’s assignments for photographers and reporters.  As a Producer I dragged my ragged body into the station at 1:00am to get the morning news on.

I finally got my chance on-air after coming in on my off days to learn to shoot, and edit my own stories.  It would still be a couple years of producing and reporting before I started reporting full-time.  Even then I worked weekends when my friends played, and worked nights when my husband was home.  (He got out of news right after we got married.)

This is me with Air Force One during President Obama's visit to Raleigh sometime in 2009. It had to be the summer because it was HOT on that tarmac!

I did 5:00am live shots and hauled equipment at 8.5 months pregnant.  I covered Presidential visits, high-profile murder trials, contentious state elections, marathon school board meetings, and more different types of weather than anyone should have to deal with.   I even made it to the anchor desk as a fill-in anchor.

One of the many snow storms I've covered. Snow is big news in the South. We get them in North Carolina, but not as often as hurricanes, it seems. (I'm joking.)

I kept at it.

I never wanted to get to network news.  That was never my goal.  I wanted to report the news in my hometown.  I did.

And now I’m done.

I will miss the occasional celebrity sighting. (Ladies, Jimmie Johnson is even better looking in person and smelled amazing!)

I felt like I owed it to myself to go back after I had my baby.  It’s been a whole year since maternity leave and it’s just time to walk away.  I’ve accomplished what I wanted to, and now it’s time for new goals.

My step-brother Bryce took this picture of himself one of the nights I anchored. Funny!

This blog has inspired me to embrace the kind of writing I really love.  My mom always called writing my “true talent”.  I’ve always felt I had to be a little more guarded on my blog compared to other bloggers because of my profession.

It was very serendipitous that I met the president of a local Public Relations firm who needed someone who knows about editing video and writing for social media.  After all, I had been complaining around here for some time that I was ready for change.  Now I have it.  I start my new job February, 8.  I’ll have better hours and more time with my family.  I can’t wait!

After 8 years this is my last week at News 14.  I cried when I told my Assistant News Director I was leaving.  I went in a college kid and left a news woman.  I grew up there.

I realized the girl who wrote that crayon letter and gave that speech is now a woman.  I’m a wife, and mother with different priorities.  I’m so proud of what I accomplished in news, but I want something different.

I may not be Adele, but I’m Amy.  I’ve lived my dream.  Not many people can say that.  With a joyful heart, and watery eyes I’ll sign out for the last time Friday, and move on to the next dream.