Mac and the lottery tickets

Okay, I know this is three days worth of birthday posts about Mac but I just can't help it.

Mac figured out he can buy lottery tickets, K-2, and a flare gun at the age of 18. Ummm, yeah. I know, I know, he's my son.

One thing I thought would be fun to do is to take him to buy a lottery ticket. I remember when I turned 18 I bought a single lottery ticket.; I won $52. It was a dollar scratch off and I won. I was too excited and thought it was amazing. So, I told Mac I had three bucks and I would buy him 3 scratch off tickets. I even went so far to go to our state lottery webpage to see what $1 tickets still had big pay outs because I really wanted him to win! Mac didn't think it was as a big deal as I did but since he's Mac he indulged me.

So, he and I left the house (just the 2 of us, the Two Musketeers) in search of a place to buy a ticket. We went to a Gas-n- Sip near our house. I gave Mac a dollar but he begged me to go in with him. So I did. He went to the counter. He got carded. He got his ticket (I let him pick out anything he wanted; I didn't care. He got a pink ticket in my honor!) and we went back to the car to scratch it off. I made him use a quarter rather than a penny; it seemed better luck that way. He scratch it off and... lost. He was bummed but laughed.

I told him I have 2 more bucks if he wanted to go back in for another one. He said he would but he wanted to go somewhere else because he didn't want to be "one of those people". (I think he means one of those people determined to play until they win regardless of how desperate they look.) So we drove six blocks to another Gas-n- Sip. He made me go in with him again. This time he wasn't carded; it was the power of his beard, he said. He brought another one of the same pink ticket. He gets to the car, scratched it off and... lost. Again. Now he's laughing. He couldn't believe he didn't even win a dollar back!

Again, I offered him my last single if he wanted to go back in for one more. Of course he wanted to try it again because now he was determined to win. But he couldn't go back in this Gas-n- Sip and be "one of those people" he so obviously was becoming. So we drove to a Marathon station across the street. This time he went in alone. Also, he wasn't carded; again, the power of the beard.

Back to the car he came with his ticket. He entered the car and picks some 'scratching music' on the radio. He gets the quarter again. He scratches each number, one at a time. Then the final two numbers. Then he makes me look. And he...lost. By this time we were hysterical laughter because he lost three times in a row. He couldn't believe it. I offered to count the change in the bottom of my purse and he was game until we started counting pennies. The absurdity of the situation hit us- counting pennies to buy a scratch off lottery ticket in hopes to win something, even just a mere $1. We couldn't stop giggling and laughing. We gave up and went home.

Because, after all, even though the lottery ticket purchasing wasn't a success, he still can get that flare gun.

Mac's mom,
Maggie