Lucky in Life

Corky Cummings

ccummings7@cox.net

I have never known anyone who has been fortunate to win anything of significance such as a lottery or a grand prize drawing for a car. There were friends from my younger days who always seemed to be winners in our poker or moon games in Somerville (the Campbell brothers come to mind), but no one I know has ever won something that changed his or her life. 

Knowing the odds are about 8 trillion to 1 that I would ever win the lottery has not kept me from

playing it on a weekly basis, even though I have never been a lucky person. Whenever I read a story about a person who has won it, I always have dreams that it could happen to me, as do countless other people. I think the dreams that people have are what keeps many of them investing their money on a regular basis. Investing is probably the wrong term to use because investments usually yield a return. Maybe wasting their money would be a better description.

There was a recent story about a New Jersey man stopping to purchase a couple of Mega Millions tickets at a local convenience store. At some point later he realized he had forgotten to pick up the tickets from the counter so he returned to the store on the day of the drawing to inquire if anyone had found them. Not only had someone found them but they had turned them over to the store clerk who was holding them behind the counter. The drawing was held that night and a couple of days later he heard someone had purchased the winning ticket from the same store. When he checked the numbers he discovered that he had won $273 million dollars. Now that is someone who is lucky. 

This all leads to a similar incident that recently happened to me in California. I spent my normal $5 on Super Lotto tickets at an Albertsons grocery store on a Sunday and I put the ticket in a small basket that you use when you only purchase a few things. After I pulled the items I purchased from the basket to scan them, a clerk at the store immediately took the basket with the lotto ticket still in it. On Monday I realized that my ticket was missing so I retraced my steps to try to figure out where it could be. I returned to Albertsons and asked the Assistant Manager if anyone had turned the ticket in. He told me they had, and it was being held with other lost and found items. 

The Super Lotto drawing was held on Wednesday and for two days I thought that fate was going to shine on me like it did on the guy in New Jersey because my story was so similar. However, much to my disappointment the similarities ended with me recovering the lost ticket as I was 4 numbers short of the 6 required to win the jackpot. 

I know I have been very fortunate in life to have a great family and great friends, but when it comes to financial luck, I feel like I have been in a never ending poker game with Edwin and Jack Stamps Campbell. The odds are not in my favor, but I don’t plan on giving up. 

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