Yesterday I swung by Chapters, Canada’s answer to Barnes & Noble. It was actually the first time in a long while that I had been inside a real brick and mortar bookstore. Though I browse books on a near-daily basis through the internet, rarely do I actually go into a store. I had almost forgotten what a different experience it is and what a good experience it is. Aileen and I found a few books we wanted to buy as Christmas gifts for the kids. Then, as we were heading to the checkout, one of the store’s employees handed us a gift card. The card had a value of anywhere between $5 and $2500–they would tell us as we completed our purchase. We took the card and went to the cash. I was not the least bit surprised to find that the card was worth $5, the absolute minimum it could have been worth. I was not going to complain, of course, as it was still $5 back in my pocket. But there was just a little part of me that was disappointed that there were to be no grand prizes yesterday!
I say that I wasn’t surprised because I’m quite sure I’ve never won anything in my life. It’s not like I compulsively enter contests, but I do enter or participate when it makes sense to do so. And I never, ever win. Not to my recollection, anyways. I’ve heard of people who have won some great and unexpected prizes and know of a few friends who have walked away with some pretty amazing ones. But I’ve never been so lucky (lucky says the Calvinist?).
It occurs that I’m probably not the only one. Have you ever won anything exciting?
