EDRG 3344, T/R - Blog #4

And the winner is...
And the winner of the Texas Lottery and one hundred million dollars is...ME? It was just another slow lazy Saturday at home when I remembered that I bought a lottery ticket a few days ago. The news was about to start so I turned on the television to see if I had wasted yet another dollar or perhaps gotten lucky and actually got enough matching numbers to win back my dollar. I gave up crossing my fingers about fifty dollars ago. I never win anything or even get more than one matching number so as I sat in front of my way too small television I barely paid attention to the numbers that I was copying down on the corner of a newspaper article. After a few seconds I was able to snap out of my daydreaming haze to check my ticket against the winning numbers that I had just jotted down. I was happy when I noticed that my first number was on the list but then I really started to get excited when my next two numbers were also a match. This was definitely a first for me but I was sure that three numbers was already way too much to have wished for. That is when I realized that all six of my numbers were a match; at that point I may have forgotten to breathe for just a second. I am certain that my brain was numb from the overwhelming screaming that was going on inside of my head because I couldn’t seen to speak or even will myself to sit down on the couch. It took me a few minutes to realize that I had not only matched all six winning lottery numbers but that I had just won more money than I had could have ever imagined.

Unlike most people I did not go straight to the store that I had purchased my ticket from, instead I waited until Monday to confirm my unexplainable good fortune. I kept thinking that I had made a mistake so I didn’t want to face reality too soon. By mid-afternoon I shuffled into the grocery store and headed straight for the customer service counter. The sales clerk behind the counter began asking how he could help me without even looking up from his cash register. I opened my mouth to ask how to redeem my lottery ticket but nothing came out. I couldn't force the words out so with my index finger I slowly slid my ticket towards the clerk. He took my ticket without a word and scanned it. I waited to hear some sort of congratulatory remark but nothing followed the humming buzz of his computer. I slowly peered up at the clerk who was now staring at me with his mouth wide open. He must have lost the ability to speak because he handed me a slip of paper with directions and a phone number for claiming lottery winnings. At that moment I felt my stomach hit the floor as I realized that I really was the winner of one hundred million dollars. I exchanged a look of overwhelming awe with the clerk, did an about face and then sprinted out of the store and back to my car. As I sat in the store parking lot I called the lottery claims office on my cell phone and made arrangements to claim my winnings that afternoon. I took a deep breath, signed on the dotted line, and became a millionaire.

I soon started receiving my lottery winnings just three short months after receiving my winning numbers on that extraordinary Saturday evening. The remarkable thing is that my life did not change very much. I had thought about telling everyone I knew of my recent windfall, and buying a private island or some other obscenely extravagant real-estate, when I realized that I was completely satisfied with my life just how it was. So I decided not to tell anyone about my continually expanding bank account or about how I paid off my mortgage and now own my two cars free and clear of all debt. However, I am now able to help my family and closest friends when money issues arise. I don’t want to make anyone suspicious of my new found generosity so when someone insists on paying me back I let them, but I always find some way of making sure that they never really get around to it. Although I am now a millionaire I have not let money change who I am or how I live my life. The only real change that winning that lottery has made is that I have now made traveling around the world with my friends and family a mandatory part of my life.