Saturday, March 12, 2011

I Won! (Or could win.)

My son recently brought home his empty chocolate milk carton from school. When I asked him why it was in his school bag -- and not the trashcan -- his eyes got all big and sparkly, and he announced, "Because I won!"

???????

So I looked on the side of the carton.



Son's "winning" milk carton.
 
I laughed and told him he had to go on the Internet to enter to win. I shook my head and marveled over his optimism, wondering when he might outgrow that.

Later that same week, I was at the gas station pumping gas into my car when I noticed a piece of paper taped to the pump: "Powerball up to $100 million. Tickets sold inside." And I found myself heading into the store to buy a ticket...and a CHANCE TO WIN $100 MILLION!

Ticket in hand, I began to fantasize about what I would do with the money if we won. After taxes, that would be about $40 million in a lump sum... 

Once home, I promptly forgot about the ticket.

Until my husband asked me about it. Did I check the numbers? Where did I get the ticket? He'd heard in the news that an unclaimed ticket that won $250,000 was from a local store.

He thought it might be ours.

I suspect in my son's case, he may never outgrow his optimism!

4 comments:

  1. I hope Leo holds onto his optimism for a lifetime - I also hope that you hit the lottery! ;)

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  2. I remember being overly excited and optimistic as I begged my mom to buy me a box of Luck Charms or Fruity Pebbles cereal so that I could win the Toys R Us hour-long shopping spree when I was younger. I can still recall some of the items that were on my list and my strategy for getting as many items in the cart as possible "when" I won. It's better to be an optimist than a pessimist right?

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  3. Colleen - Thanks! I already know which private school I'll be sending Leo to, and which vacation homes I'll be buying in Hawaii and Ocean City :)

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  4. Tanya - I love your memory! And knowing you, I'm sure your strategy would have yielded the most items, had you only won!

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