Even with extremely slim odds of winning, part of the fun was dreaming about what to do with 1.5 billion dollars. Because we all believed we were going to win, right?
I hardly ever play the lottery. I only think about it when the jackpot gets really high and it is splattered all over the news. But when I do, I have always felt compelled to buy my tickets at one particular place. I have no idea why. It's not a place I normally go. In fact, I never go there except to buy powerball tickets.
About 2.5 miles from my house sits a Speedway Station. It is out of my way for gas or to drop in for convenience items, but at lottery time it calls to me. I have to get my tickets there and only there. I have been doing so for at least 7 or 8 years.
I followed my normal protocol at the start of this frenzy too. Only no one hit the numbers the first couple of rounds so the jackpot grew. That's okay I thought, it's going to happen, just keep playing. 1.5 billion dollars. That is more money than I can really wrap my head around. I kept thinking maybe it would be better to win a smaller, more manageable amount. How does one stay anonymous or handle such a life changing event? These are problems I was willing to confront. Maybe it would be better to just win one of the million dollar payouts instead of the giant Mack Daddy prize. Am I the only person who thinks this way? Probably.
Anyway, when Wednesday rolled around, I decided to run out at lunch and get my tickets while at work...about 40 miles away. I chose a Speedway, hoping it wouldn't matter that I was cheating on my normal place. The chances of winning are so slim anyway, what does it really matter!
Thursday morning rolls around and I hear there are 3 winners, none in Ohio. Oh well, move on.
Then a few hours later I see something about one of the few million dollar winners being from Centerville, Ohio (my hometown). OMG, that is awesome, but please do not let that ticket be from MY Speedway!!
I quickly open the article and yep, there it is, MY Speedway sold one of the million dollar tickets! Wooooooohooooooooo! I sure hope it went to someone I know, because it sure as hell wasn’t me.
What I learned is: No matter how much I say it to other people, no matter how much I know it intellectually and no matter how much I doubt myself. I absolutely must trust my intuition. I knew that Speedway station was going to sell a major winning ticket at some point. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how much, but I definitely knew deep down that it would happen and it would happen there. Yet I didn’t buy my ticket there for the biggest jackpot in all of history because I didn’t really trust my own intuition.
So that, my friends, is my takeaway. I do not believe I was meant to be Centerville’s newest millionaire. I believe I was meant to learn this lesson: Trust yourself, believe in yourself, when you know something in your gut you know something in your gut, do not doubt it.
So now I have to find a new place to buy my lottery tickets, or not. And I will go make my own millions, or not.
I have to see what my intuition says!!!