Stone Mountain Man Up for $100,000 And a Year Off

Theodore Scott of Stone Mountain was going through his spam folder a few months ago when he came across information about a national search by Gold Peak Tea. The image attached to it caught his eye.

It was of a woman wearily leaning over a file cabinet.

“She looks really stressed out,” said Scott, 60, a lawyer in practice with his wife and twin brother in the firm Scott, Scott & Scott. “I got the point. I said, ‘boy, that’s me.”

That’s not the only thing about Gold Peak’s contest that got his attention.

The tea, a Coca Cola brand, is looking to give someone a year off and $100,000  which will let them concentrate on something that means a lot to them.

In Scott’s case, that will be his family -- and his life overall.

Scott is one of Gold Peak's five finalists.  A winner will be announced around Labor Day. Visit Gold Peak's Facebook page to view the finalists and vote.

Scott, who has four grown sons and four grandsons, got confirmation from his wife that he’s burned the candle at both ends for years.

“I never thought of myself as a workaholic. She said, ‘Scotty, you are a workaholic, you’re just in denial.” His sons agreed.

When he entered the Gold Peak contest, he said he felt as if we were writing for men in his same situation or worse, who "let time slip by being a provider."

He’s been reflecting on his busy life.

“Time went by so fast that sometimes I look at my children and say, ‘are these my children? They grew up so fast. Where was I?’ My only answer is, I was busy working. I wish I had taken the time or missed some work time so I could have gotten to know my children more deeply than I did. I’ve got four grandchildren and I say to myself, do I want the same thing to happen with them that appears to have happened with my children?"

“It’s a golden opportunity,” he said of the Gold Peak Tea contest. “If I can win this thing, it is the catalyst I need to make a change, to enjoy my family and my life.”

What would you do if you won $100,000 and could take the year off from work? Tell us in the comments section below.

Check back with Patch when Gold Peak announces the winner.