Saturday, May 5, 2018

Meeting a Lottery Winner

They say that the 17th Century French mathematician, theologian, and all-around swell guy Blaise Pascal was terrified of the vast emptiness of space. Unlike Pascal I am terrified of the donut shop not being open on Saturday mornings.
Not to worry today about Donut Joe's in Pelham.  
Chatted with an interesting stranger, sitting there in front of the store as I left with my donut haul, a man in shorts and t-shirt looking slightly older than me, a regular looking man. Anyone looking about my age I always say is a little older than me.
"Working hard, I see," I say and from there he tells me that not really; he's been retired since he was 42.
"You must have money," I say boldly.
He proceeds to tell me that he won 8 million dollars in the Massachusetts lottery at 42 and has been retired since as a former Massachusetts state trooper.
"Why are you in Alabama?"
"It's a retirement mecca. The state doesn't tax social security or traditional retirement funds, and low property taxes."
Okay, good to hear I tell him. Some people do win the lottery and I meet my first and probably only lottery winner outside the donut shop in Pelham.
Happy Saturday everyone!

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