Though he knows that's different than what most of us dream of.

This past week, Americans began calculating the odds of reaching a Powerball lottery boasting a $1-billion jackpot.

Officials predict it could happen within a decade.

"This is my prize!" read one comment after the story ran online in USA Today .

"Imagine instantly becoming one of the 1%," another reader wondered of the world's wealthiest inhabitants.

But if you want to know what it's like to be rich, listen to Allen as he makes his way around a 149-year-old home in Lower Truro, N.S.

These are sadder days for him. But he did have it all -- and knows it.

You likely remember Allen and his wife Violet, who won $11.2 million in a Lotto 6/49 draw in 2010. They gave pretty much all of it away -- to their families and charities.

They had no voice mail or even a microwave, but Violet said they hadn't spent anything on themselves because they didn't need anything.

After 37 years of marriage, Violet, recovering from surgery and six chemotherapy treatments for cancer when they won, died last July at 79 years old, leaving Allen poorer for the loss.

A retired welder, he now keeps himself busy by donating his skills to community projects.

He doesn't think much about the money they gave away. But Violet is never far from his thoughts.

"Losing her is something I'll never get over," he says through tears. "No amount of money would ever replace my wife."

They loved helping people, but the lottery win was a nuisance -- people calling at all hours, from oceans away, begging for cash.

Internet scammers still use their names in fake e-mails to the unsuspecting.

"We gave every damn cent away and never spent five."

But that's not what he wants to dwell on. He wants to recall days with Violet -- first seeing her at a dance and remembering back to 1982, when he was laid off in Toronto and told her to pack up, they were heading east.

Belongings hung from their vehicle, and they were sure they'd lose something along that drive. But they made it just fine -- because they did it together.

"Money can't replace what you have," Allen says of something we all know but somehow still doubt.

Americans dream of winning a lottery big enough to basically own the Empire State Building.

And Calgarians count down to next weekend, when an outstanding $1-million Lotto Max ticket, bought in that city, is set to expire.

There's a chance to have it all, so they say. But a good man, making his way alone around a quiet home in Nova Scotia, knows better.