Why Life Really Isn't Like a Children's Book

Our local market is sponsoring a huge game for the summer. It’s simple to play; the store will give you game pieces each time you make a purchase and if you collect all of the tokens for a particular item you win that item. At this moment I am one token away from winning any of these fabulous prizes:

$250 Grocery gift card

$250 Weekend Getaway

$1000 Gas Grill

$500 REI Gift card

$200 Kindle Fire

$100 Grocery Gift Card

$50 Gift Mall Gift Card

$20 Grocery Gift Card

$10 Cash

$5 Cash

$2 Cash

$25,000 Harley Davidson or Boston Whaler

and finally

$1,000,000 (Yes, 1 million dollars!)

I was walking the dog the other day when I spotted in the gutter one of the game tickets. It had been smashed by a car and slightly damp in the corner, but I was convinced this was going to be my winning ticket. I felt like Charlie Bucket in Roald Dahl’s, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this was going to be my lucky day.

I rushed home dragging the dog behind me in a hurry with visions of how I was going to spend my million dollars or where I would ride my Harley. I opened the ticket and found chocolate  just a repeat of numbers I already had. I didn’t even win the $2 let alone the $1,000,000. I laughed at myself and realized how silly I had been, then I washed my hands (the ticket was in the gutter after all ) and went on with my day.

Two days later I was leaving the market when I found another ticket in the parking lot near my car. After searching for the owner and finding no one nearby I put it in my pocket to check it out when I got back home. As I went about my errands I thought about Charlie Bucket again. He didn’t get the golden ticket the first time around. Wouldn’t this make a great blog post if I could tell people how my fabulous win was just like a children’s book? And while I don’t have four grandparents sleeping in one bed in my home, I could sure use a little extra cash. I was deserving right?

I opened the ticket and what did I see? The same numbers that I had before. I was still one ticket away from all of the fabulous prizes on my game card. No Harley, no gas grill or weekend getaway, I laughed at myself and realized that I did get one thing that I was looking for… something to blog about and the knowledge that life really isn’t like a children’s book and I think that’s okay.

Suzanne Santillan

Writing on the Sidewalk