by Jack
Imagine for the moment that you’re Mom with a young daughter walking up to the grocery store counter to purchase $5 worth of Powerball tickets. You notice that an elderly lady, some 50 years your senior, has approached the same line just seconds behind you. She’s a bit unsteady on her feet and you turn to her and say, please you go ahead of us we’re in no hurry. You make your purchase and leave.
About a week goes by, but you’ve been busy and almost forgot about the lottery. Then you hear someone won the big bucks and they haven’t stepped forward to claim the $590 million in prize money, but here’s the kicker…the winning ticket was sold at the store where you bought yours. And here you are, you haven’t checked your tickets yet, in fact you can’t even be sure where you put them.
There’s an O-M-G moment, as a sudden flush of adrennalin rolls over you. You open the middle drawer on the bills desk, ummm…not there. A little panic starts as you walk double time to the kitchen catchall drawer. Ah, there they are, mixed among some coupons and pot holders are your five lucky lottery tickets. But, where to check for the winning numbers?
Your 10 year old daughter is on the computer and you explain to her in a patient, guarded, tone that belies your true nervous anticipation, “Sweetie, mommy needs to use the computer for a minute.” Within a minute you’re scanning the Powerball website as you explain to your daughter the big winner is still outstanding and the tickets were purchased at the same store and on the same day you two were at! What are the odds? Now your mind is running quicker as the excitement builds, really, what are the odds? You try to ground yourself by thinking, but I’m not a lucky person, you’ve had to struggle for everything in your life, yet holding these tickets and not knowing…at that moment you could actually be the winner of $590.5 million dollars!
Mindy lined up her tickets, no, it wasn’t the first ticket, nope, not the second ticket, nor the 3rd or the fourth and with rapidly a mix of declining enthusiasm bouyed by eternal optimism she checked her last quick pick. . . and there it was, five straight losers. But, then she remembered the 84 year old she let cut in front of her. Nah, that couldn’t possibly have happen,could it? Yes, as a matter of fact it could. The elderly lady won it.
Gloria MacKenzie, 84, (shown left with her son) was identified Wednesday by state lottery officials as the winner of a $590.5 million Powerball lottery — the most ever for a single lottery winner in the USA. MacKenzie opted for the lottery’s lump-sum payment of $370.8 million. That leaves her with about $278.2 million at her disposal after taxes.
MacKenzie issued a written statement Wednesday thanking that good samaritan for a gesture that led to her windfall. “While in line, another lottery player was kind enough to let me go ahead of them in line to purchase the winning Quick Pick ticket,” the statement read. Isn’t that nice, she made a public thank you.
Crandell, a mother of two, told reporters she hopes MacKenzie is “blessed” by the windfall and added ”I’m not upset. If it was meant to be, it would’ve happened for us,” she said. “Maybe there’s something for us down the road.” It’s often said that kindness is it’s own reward and the price of Mindy’s kindness was $590.5 million. Does MacKenzie feel the slightest bit guilty, enough to flip Crandell a few mil? Apparently not.
Neighbors of MacKenzie said she was never close to anyone. She lived a solitary life in a dingy little apartment. She had a son, but apparently he rarely came around. 
So, her next door neighbors frequently told her if she needed anything they would be glad to help her, but she never took them up on it. She prefered to stay to herself as a loner, and now a very, very rich loner. What does the 84 year old lady plan on doing with this money? Who knows, she’s not saying, but I bet her son who has suddenly remembered he has a mother has some plans to “help” her out….
What do you want to bet will not have anything to do with have nothing to do helping the poor, the needy, or the struggling Mom’s with children who never get a break?