Sadly, I Won't Be Counted As One Of The Big Lotto Winners

All of my driving around and crazy methods for choosing the winning numbers netted me exactly $0 in last night's Mega Millions drawing. I didn't even have the darn Mega number! I had three of the regular numbers in total, with only two numbers on one line. Without the Mega number, I had nothing!

But, after watching the “20/20” special, I could almost find a little bliss in my loss. Especially after seeing the story of the dude who won over $300 million. Sad, sad, sad to see the man break down and cry as he admitted that the money had ruined his marriage, caused the death of his granddaughter and her boyfriend to drugs, and he was heading down the wrong path in life as well. He received thousands and thousands of requests for money and it broke his heart that he couldn't help everyone, and when he didn't comply to some of the requests, people got mean and nasty. He said sure, he had money, but he had nothing else.

The only relatively normal lottery winner highlighted on the show was a young woman of 20 who had won $1,000,000 with a scratch-off lottery ticket. She paid off her school loans, bought a car and a camera and banked the rest of her winnings, continuing her work as a waitress. Yes, a million dollars is a lot of money, but not THAT much money and I think that helps.

It seemed that the people who up and quit their jobs and started living lives vastly different from what they were accustomed to were the ones who had the most trouble, as well as anyone who had an ounce of sensitivity. No matter how hard you may try to hide your win from the general public, it seems that all winners get revealed and tracked down, and then the phone calls and letters start. Unless you have a heart of stone, it has to be terribly difficult to hear and read the pleas of others desperately in need of financial assistance to save homes and lives and then have to turn a blind eye to them.

Of course I won't stop playing the lottery myself, but it helps me not to feel quite so badly when my numbers don't come up.