So I won the lottery.

I've decided to write a blog about the last six months and beyond.

I actually won the lottery. It was bizarre. I'm not a regular player either, but one night I stopped at the gas station and gave the guy a $20, and got 1 ticket and 19 bucks in gas. It was about 2 weeks later that I was at another gas station and saw one of those ticket readers that scans your ticket and tells you if you won. Next to it was a small pile of crumpled tickets. I put my ticket in and let the red laser flicker over the bar code. The machine beeped quietly and said only, "Jackpot. Call or go to lottery office nearby".
Flabbergasted, I left the store rather than risk giving the ticket to the clerk to verify. I went home and got online and found the date of my lottery. I checked the numbers, and yes, I had all of them. It said only 1 winning ticket had been sold and it was in my hand.
Suddenly I was afraid, terribly afraid that something would go wrong or I would lose the ticket. I fished for an envelope with shaky hands and put the ticket inside and sealed it. I wrote "IMPORTANT. DO NOT THROW AWAY" on both sides of the envelope. Then I didn't know where to put it. I can go on and on about what that strange feeling was like, and the nerve-wracking drive to the lottery office, but the next day I was there.
The lottery office was a small unit in an office building. When I got there, I nervously pulled out the envelope and looked at it through the light before daring to tear it, lest I damage the ticket. I handed it to the lady and simply said, "I think I won."
She had a large machine similar to the ones in stores that print tickets and she inserted my fragile paper retirement into a slot. About 3 seconds later my ticket spat back out and a small paper printed out of the top. With a big smile, the friendly black woman said, "Yes you did honey. Come on back" and gestured to the door on my right.