The Lottery Ticket

Many years ago, my husband and I were struggling financially. It was a few days after Christmas, the bills were paid, but our bank account was overdrawn. It was cold and snowy and a few days before my birthday.
I had spent some time with my mom during the Holidays and she had offered to wash my winter jacket. I graciously accepted!
After visiting her house I came home, and upon walking inside, my husband asked if I would go to the store and get a gallon of milk. He told me that he understood if I didn’t want to make the trip, since I had just returned home, but I was fine going.

We stood in the doorway catching up for a minute and I unthinkingly stuffed my hands and my car keys into my coat pocket. When I turned to leave, and took my keys out, I was holding a $20 bill.
I lit up, my husband started laughing… “where did that come from!?” he asked, surprised.
My mom.
She knew that we had been tight on funds and after washing my coat, she put $20 in my pocket without me knowing.

I got in the car and drove to the store to get milk.
The car we were driving at the time was an old Jeep, a 1998 Limited Grand Cherokee. It was a great car, but had issues, including a dead battery recently. The clock on the Jeep was wrong. When I left to go to the store it was around 7pm in the evening, but the clock was reading almost 11pm.
I needed to reset it.
I would… eventually… when I figured out how.

I went in the store and purchased a gallon of milk. An impulse took over and I asked the cashier for a $2 scratch off lottery ticket as well.
I got in the car, put the milk on the passenger seat and the lottery ticket on top of my purse.

When I got back home, I looked at the ticket and decided I would scratch it off in the car. I didn’t want my husband thinking I squandered $2 if the ticket didn’t pay off.
I found a coin and began scratching…
I matched one of my numbers to a winning number. The prize: $20.
I was elated!
I continued down the ticket… another winning number matched mine… another $20.
By the time I had scratched off the whole ticket, I had won $100.
I was beaming, and when I went to put the coin back on the dash, the clock (with the incorrect time) caught my attention.
It read: 11:11.
Now I had tears in my eyes.

I believe in signs and 1111 has always been a moment to take a pause. In my house, if we catch it, we say “make a wish!”… and we do. That night, at the “wrong” 11:11 I experienced a much needed synchronicity.

And then, to add to the needed financial help, the next day my husband and I visited with his parents. His mother handed me an early Birthday card. I opened it up, and inside was $100, a gift from her and my father in law.

I believe that little miracles like this happen constantly in our day to day lives. When we stop and pay attention, we begin to realize, there is always something responding to our thoughts and prayers.