Ever win a lottery, raffle, or sweepstakes?

I just got back yesterday from a 4-day Caribbean cruise on the Disney Wonder.

Eight months ago, my wife and son were at a fabric store in Gastonia, N.C. On the way back home, he wanted to stop at McDonalds, where he ordered some new sandwich. It had a peel-off sticker, and he won first prize.

The kicker is that we figured out that the contest had ended six months before. Uh-oh. So we called McDonalds and told them our story. They checked out the restaurant and discovered that the manager was still using the sandwich wrappers tied to the contest. They talked to Disney and honored the payoff, no problem.

My father won $10,000 (top prize) on a scratch ticket about 10 years ago at a point when he really needed it. It was probably only the third or forth time he’d bought a ticket. I, who have purchased over a hundred times that number, have yet to win more than 20 bucks. Go figure.