“You’ve never played the lottery, right?”
“…right…”
“Sometime during winter break, we need to have you buy a lottery ticket.”
My dad is a smart guy, but sometimes he gets really adamant about certain strange ideas and I find myself wondering where on earth they’re coming from.
My winter break, as you know, was mostly filled with medical drama, so it wasn’t anyone’s first priority to whisk me off to be a newly-able-to-buy-lottery-tickets good luck charm.
Once I finally started getting better, though, the idea returned to the forefront of my dad’s mind.
“After dinner I’m stealing Sabina to go buy a lottery ticket,” he matter-of-factly told my mom.
I laughed, but he was serious.
“There is no way. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The lottery is just a tax on the mathematically incompetent,” I said, quoting my high school government teacher.
After a back-and-forth of “What’s the harm?” “That’s not the point,” I finally gave in.
You know why?
For the blog.
I literally revoked my stubborn refusal because of this series about my firsts. This was an opportunity for material. How could I turn that down?
Off to the supermarket we went.
We so rarely buy lottery tickets (read: never) that my dad and I were highly confused by what it was asking us about numbers, draws, and Power Plays, and we ended up selecting the wrong choices. What we wanted was 10 sets of numbers for the next day’s draw, but we ended up with 1 set of numbers to hope for over the next 10 draw dates.
My dad was frustrated–he was banking on my so-called beginner’s luck to win us the jackpot, which happened to be the target number he’s dreamt about–but I told him there was one good omen. The machine had randomly selected 17 as one of the numbers in our set, which happens to be my lucky number.
Walking away from the machine, I definitely saw how people can get addicted to playing the lottery. It’s an exciting adrenaline rush thinking that you could become a millionaire from it. It’s extremely unlikely, but it feels so possible.
We haven’t won the jackpot yet, but we still have a few more draws with that one set of numbers. Who knows, it could be beginner’s luck after all.
Victim to Charm 
I think with all the bad luck happening in January February needs to start off lucky…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahh so that’s the story…
Your teacher was a lot more PC than one had who called lotteries a “stupidity tax.”
As I told you the other day, with your unfortunate run last month the universe may just owe you a turn of good luck to even things out a bit.
And of course if you hit the jackpot that could kickstart your world domination project, and you’ll be right back on track!
LikeLike
I feel like I’d do a lot of “throwing money at the problem,” which definitely could get me back on track!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was very strange for me seeing my son purchase his own lottery ticket this weekend.
I am old! :)
LikeLike
It’s funny how people often measure their age in others’ milestones. I imagine even more so as a parent.
LikeLike
I have my fingers and toes crossed for you ;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, thanks! Who knows, my numbers are still in the running for the next few draws.
LikeLike
Lol
LikeLike
Great lil’ story. I play every now and then. It’s fun, every now. and. then. And for blog fodder. :-)
LikeLike
Definitely!
LikeLike
Pingback: What Happens When…? | Victim to Charm
Pingback: First Visit to Michigan | Victim to Charm
I keep saying I am going to play but I never do. I never go any place where they sell tickets, or at least that I notice that they sell tickets. Except, of course, the game rooms in restaurants and I am rarely in a restaurant without grandchildren and they can’t go in there so no, I haven’t played. However, the first time I played in California was the day they first started selling scratchers way back in the early 1980’s. I bought one scratcher ($1) at a Winchell’s and when I scratched it off, I had won $50! Not bad for a $1 investment! You never know. Someone has to win. Might as well be you!
LikeLike
Scratch-its are really popular! The big number lotteries have a bigger but more infrequent payout–I’d rather have a higher chance of winning a smaller amount of money.
LikeLike