The car is dirty. There are dead bugs (SPLAT!) on the windshield from all of the speeding on the highway and brown leaves stuck between the windshield wipers from last fall. The mud on the doors and tires from that rainy day is starting to look embarrassing. Those seagulls sure weren’t kind to the windows when we took the trip to the beach. Oh well, guess it’s time for a wash.
Out comes the sponge. Out comes the bucket of soapy water. Then there is the hour of intense scrubbing and scrapes on my hard-working elbows. That is, unless I’m feeling super rich.
If I’m feeling like a big spender, I might drive myself down to the local car wash. Maybe if I check my glove box (that I haven’t cleaned out in years) I might find some coupons. Jackpot.
The car is always dirty. It’s a vicious cycle. But the furthest solution from my mind would be to install a personal car wash in my home. What a luxury.
It is true I would not have to worry about scouring my glove box (which does not contain any gloves, by the way) for coupons. But I would believe the money and the time it would require to acquire an in-home car-wash would monetarily and timely cost a lot more than living without.
Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and his family – a wife and two daughters – purchased their brand new home in California’s Silicon Valley for $100 million. Wall Street Journal‘s “Market Watch” reported it is the most expensive house paid for in the United States. I forgot to mention this is his second home. Wealth is a huge deal in Hollywood; being the richest is quite a compliment. A “life without” is not in this family’s vocabulary.
It has five bedrooms (one for each person, perhaps?) and nine bathrooms. You know, just in case each of the five family members needs access to about two bathrooms each. But that’s not the best part of the castle.
Let’s go through their day, metaphorically of course. Keep in mind they could spend this whole day in their mansion and never get bored. What a life.
Wake up in one of the five bedrooms. Eat breakfast in the monster kitchen. Work out in the private home gym, or maybe engage in some friendly competition during a family tennis match on their court, and some swimming pool time to cool off. Then a nice, hot shower in one of the nine bathrooms. When they need to feel especially refreshed, all they need to do is take a trip to the home spa. Ah, sweet relaxation.
They forgot about lunch so let’s skip forward to dinner time. Maybe some nice wine from the wine cellar? Done. Now they only have to decide in which room they would prefer to eat the meal. Choices are: central entry court, ballroom or the tables in the formal gardens. The delicious meal is eaten, and now it’s time to take it easy. Next, maybe they could view a movie in the home theater. Then it’s time for bed in one of the bedrooms. And then the definitely-not-vicious-cycle repeats itself.
On the very off chance they get bored enough to leave their home, they take a car (probably one of many). They make sure to take it out long enough to get it a little dirty. Then it’s time for a car wash!
It’s a dream life maybe. But before I get that green thing called jealousy in my heart, I realize there’s an abundance of opportunities this family might be missing.
The daughters won’t get to meet the cute guy that lifeguards at the local swimming pool.
They’ll never get to experience that rush you get when you have to speed to the video store, secretly hoping you’ll beat the late fee by a mere minute, and feel like you’re living on the edge.
They’ll never get to know the sibling rivalry that occurs when one is hogging the bathroom mirror. They’ll never get my life, and I’ll never get theirs. What a stalemate.
Becca Horton is a freshman majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected].
