"A Good Excuse for a Reunion"
	Francie Pinkwater left her Highland Park home early one Sunday morning, hoping to return a millionaire. The real estate agent headed to the Big Apple as a contestant on the hit show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" "I'm a little nervous," admitted Pinkwater. "I've had too much time to think about it." Pinkwater found out she made the cut about a week before the trip, but she's been a fan of the show since it began last summer. When it comes to answering the questions from the comfort of her own home, Pinkwater said she's pretty good. She even got one of the million-dollar questions right. However, she wasn't sure how she'd do under the bright
lights of the set "My biggest fear is getting the seat and blowing it after $100," said Pinkwater. "I don't want to come back looking like an idiot." Pinkwater had as much of a strategy as one can have. She outlined her strengths- pop culture and history- and found lifelines (friends she can call during the show to ask for help if the need arises) to cover the rest. She said that part wasn't hard. "When people found out I was going to be on the show, they started offering themselves as life lines," said Pinkwater. "Everybody thinks they're brilliant!" She finally settled on her husband, psychologist Stuart Pinkwater, who was waiting by the phone on Monday during the taping as one of her five lifelines. She had three friends on hold for questions about sports, medicine and school. Only one person declined to be a lifeline, saying she would not take on that kind of responsibility. Pinkwater said she didn't really prepare for the game. In fact, her husband bought her a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" book, which did nothing but make her more nervous. "I don't know one answer in the book." It all started when Pinkwater's 17-year-old daughter started calling the show's hotline. Since she wasn't actually eligible- contestants must be 18- she made her mom try. After several failed attempts to get through, Pinkwater finally got three questions right. From there, she was entered into a random drawing. Luck was on her side and Pinkwater made it through the playoff questions. All she had to do now was wait for her phone to ring. "I'm not a millionaire yet. I have to go to work," Pinkwater told her sister, Laurie Young. She asked Young, who also lives in Highland Park, to babysit her phone while she went back to the office. Her sister obliged, and it wasn't long before the phone rang. "She called me screaming like a crazy person." And Young would have been crazy to pass up the chance to watch her older sister become a millionaire. So it was decided: Young was going to New York, too. Word spread like wildfire that Pinkwater and Young were making the trip. When their older sister found out, she decided to fly in from Paris for the New York getaway. Then a sister-in-law and a friend from elementary school joined in. Another one flew in from Philadelphia. Before long, eight women, all childhood friends and family, decided "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" was a good excuse for a reunion. "It was one of those, I can't have you go and not me," explains Young. "We all have a good time. We laugh a lot. We've known each other since third grade. Then we get to top it off with a TV show." In the end, Pinkwater didn't make it to the hot seat, but she did get just what she had hoped for- a great trip to New York with friends and family.