Hilton Head

Last year HGTV had a contest to win a home in Whitefish, Montana, and I desperately wanted to win. Of course I didn't. This year their Dream Home is in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and I'm entering like a fool.

Hilton Head is an island off the coast. It has been named the Best Island in America for the last three years by Travel + Leisure Magazine. I've never been there, but in my reading it seems to be a playground for the rich--it is forty-two square miles, but has thirty golf courses! The most distinctive feature of the island may be the lighthouse at Harbour Town, which is easily visible from the eighteenth green of the course. I used to play a computer golf game that featured that course, and I would idly try to hit the lighthouse with the ball.

What fascinates me about these contests is that the house is completely furnished. They get a designer to fill it with all sorts of furniture, even artwork and bedding. They talk about the tile and the accents and the backyard, which has a pool that is painted black so it appears like a mirror. There's a fire pit and a grill that I would never use.

Most people, I suspect, never move into the houses that they win. They make take the cash option or sell it. Who wants to move into a house that has someone else's stuff? But there's something intriguing about that. I fancy moving in and keeping everything exactly the same, as if I were moving into someone else's life. I have had dreams about having a second apartment, one that I forgot I had. I think this means that I wish I had another life that I could just transition into.

The one drawback about Hilton Head is that it is a coastal community, so will probably be underwater in fifty years. Nobody at HGTV mentioned that.