Elusive million continues to bug him

During my formative years in the Great Depression, a lasting impression was created concerning money, or rather the lack of it.
I vowed that some day I would become financially independent and reach the pinnacle of success. I could have been considered a dreamer. My mother often told me that it is better to be envied for your wealth than pitied for your poverty.
I have tested the possible wealth-enhancing waters in various forms, including the stock market, inventing and the lottery. For eight decades, I have been trying to make that million. It has been a case of so near, yet so far.
The nearest I ever came to achieving my goal was Dec. 23, 1998, playing the Ohio lottery. Lotteries have held a fascination for me since the days of the Depression and the "bug." Unlike today's legal lottery, the bug and its courier, the bug man, were illegal. In those days, when every penny counted, we were hoping for that 500-to-1 return on our one cent investment. Five dollars was a big pocket full of change -- about a half-pound worth.
Five of six
On that fateful near-miss day, I had five of the six Super Lotto numbers. The jackpot was $45 million, the second largest up to that time. It would have paid a lump sum of $14.7 million after taxes.
The winning numbers were 13, 22, 23, 29, 36 and 43. My numbers were 13, 22, 28, 29, 36 and 43. I almost always review the autopick numbers and if I spot one of my grandchildren's birthdays, I will remove one number and play the brother's or sister's number in its place. As luck would have it, I didn't do it that day. My granddaughter Laine Vicarel's birthday is 22 and her brother Jeffrey's is 23. Normally, I would have replaced the 28 with 23.
There was one winner, and if I had won, my take would have been $7.35 million after taxes, not $1,118 before taxes.
I would have been better off winning nothing, because I don't think about what I won, I think about my big loss.
My Good friend Rocky Chirchiglia often admonishes me not to worry about money. "Mike," he says, "it's only paper, and you can't take it with you"
X Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and an inductee into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.