The Winning Streak

I had never won anything in my life. Ever. My baseball team lost every game (except that one, by default, when the other team didn’t show). I came in third place in the office lottery for a Cancun vacation. I even lost the bid for the project manager position, at work, and I was the only one in consideration! Well, technically, they canceled the project, but it would have meant a substantial bonus so, yeah, I lost.

As the thought of my perfect track record ran across my mind, I looked down at the innocuous slip of paper in my hands and couldn’t stop the smile from creeping across my face: I had actually won something! A huge something. A this-calls-for-a-celebratory-bottle-of-champagne something. I was looking at a check for $20k, with my name on it, and I still couldn’t believe that this was real. I had only had the check in my possession for a little less than 48 hours and I already had frivolous plans to enjoy every single dollar: a 30-day tour of Spain, Portugal and Morocco… a whole new wardrobe for my vacation… eating at the best restaurants in the Mediterranean… and since this epic event certainly can’t be done alone, I decided to take my best friend, David, along for the ride – and I haven’t even told him yet. David has been that ride-or-die friend who has always believed in me when no one else did and who’s the first person to tell me when I’m acting like a jerk. David is the one who showed me that my now ex-girlfriend, Delilah, was just using me when I was blinded by the fact that a woman that gorgeous would be with me. As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for David, I never would have had the courage to enter the writing contest that won me the grand prize of $20k, so I think that he deserves to enjoy it as much as I do. I definitely owe the guy some thanks for putting up with me since second grade.

I came across the writing contest in a YouTube ad, of all places: for a chance to win the $20,000 grand prize, all you had to do was write a true-life essay of a pivotal event that changed the course of your life. Sounds simple, right? Narrowing down the event was the easy part – but opening myself up and putting my personal experience out there to share with the world, really wasn’t something that I was ready for. I still have no idea what made me mention it to David but, I did – and his wisdom and insight put my trepidation to rest.

Twenty years ago, the summer before my senior year of high school, my dad killed me. My parents had split when I was about 8 years old, due to my dad’s raging alcoholism and schizophrenic tendencies: mom was done when she came home, one day, and dad had flooded the house by plugging every drain and turning all of the faucets on full blast to put out the lava that was flowing through the house. Yep. When mom opened the door and saw dad standing on the island in the kitchen, he flailed his arms and screamed at her to save herself from the lava flow. Mom just looked at her flooded house, took my hand, turned around and never went back. That was the last straw, she just couldn’t live like that anymore.

Mom leaving caused dad to realize that he really needed help - he finally sought medical intervention for his mental health, and he started doing better. Mom had remarried and my stepdad, Peter, is a great guy. I spent weekends with my dad and things went pretty well. One day I came in around 11pm, from a date, and dad was having an episode: I walked in the door and suddenly felt a searing pain claw its way around my head, as I dropped to my knees and looked up to see my dad pointing a gun at me. Dad’s muddled mind told him that I was a demon coming to kill him and he decided that he had to kill the demon first. Dad’s next door neighbor, Paul, had some friends over and they all came running when they heard the gunshot. As reality started to sink in with dad, Paul grabbed the gun from him and pulled him to the side, as his brother called 911. Amazingly, the paramedics were there within a few minutes and got to work on me immediately, as I started to seize and blood streamed from my head. I was rushed to the hospital – I flat-lined in the ambulance and twice on the operating table. But God had other plans.

It was a long, slow road to recovery – I missed my entire senior year and had to relearn a lot of basic motor skills and how to walk again, but mom got me a tutor so that I could keep up with classes and I graduated on time. Dad was so traumatized that he quit drinking cold-turkey and finally agreed to take medication to get control of his mental state.

As I looked up from my reverie, I noticed a young lady sitting on a bench and looking forlornly at the small, black notebook in her hands. Stepping closer, I noticed tears in her eyes and had to find out if I could help.

“Excuse me.”

She looked up, startled by my voice, and a single tear slid down her cheek as she swiped it away.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, you just looked upset and I wanted to be sure that everything is ok. Do you mind if I sit down? I’m Jonathan, by the way.”

She gave a wan smile.

“Hannah. I’m just a little overwhelmed, but thank you for your concern. And, sure, you can sit down.”

I looked at Hannah as I sat down on the bench: a short, burgundy pixie-cut made her huge green eyes stand out even more. She had a sweet, almost innocent, face and the most intense eyes I had ever seen. She stared down at the little, black notebook as she gripped it tightly.

“That notebook seems to mean a lot to you. Forgive me if I’m prying, and just tell me if it’s none of my business, but what’s so important in that book?”

“It’s none of your business.”

I started to sputter an apology, when Hannah gave a slight smile.

“I’m just kidding. I mean, it’s not your business, but I might as well share it with someone since I have no idea what to do.”

Hannah handed me the notebook.

“I just got laid off and I was sitting here writing down all of the things that I have to take care of and wondering how I’m going to keep over me and my babies' heads.” She smiled a real smile then. “I have two children, Lizzie and Joshua, 4-year-old twins. Their dad was a cop – he was killed on the job two years ago and it’s been really hard since then, but I’ve managed to keep us going. Now, with losing my job, I have no idea how I’m going to pay the bills, mortgage, student loans, medical bills from my son’s surgery – I just don’t know what to do!”

She looked at me, “Sorry, that’s a lot to put on you when you don’t even know me.”

I already knew what I was going to do when Hannah started talking, as I flipped through her little notebook of big problems: this rolled up check in my pocket will do a lot more good for her than it will for me – Spain isn’t going anywhere.

I pulled the check out of one pocket and a pen out of the other and endorsed it. I folded it in half and put it in Hannah’s hand, as I stood up.

“Hannah, I’d like to help –even though I just met you, this will do a lot more for you than it will for me. I wish you the best with finding a great new job.”

Hannah opened the check – I saw her eyes pop as I turned to walk away.

“Wait… Johnathan… I can’t… I mean, where did you… you don’t even know me… wait!”

I sprinted down the street, with my smile growing wider as I went.

I just gave away a $20k check – to a mom who I had never met. I don’t know it she was telling the truth, but my heart says that she was sincere.

I had never won anything in my life but, within 48 hours, I had won a $20k writing contest and blessed a total stranger with the entire windfall.

Looks like the tide has turned – I’m on a winning streak.