I woke up this morning ready—truly ready—to pack my imaginary bags, claim my imaginary keys to a sunny little Florida condo overlooking a golf course, and establish the kind of forever endowment that would let The Zebra Press, Alexandria’s beloved source for good news and community storytelling, coast proudly into the future on a cloud of financial security.
Because, as you might know, I am an eternal optimist. Eternal. Relentless. Borderline delusional most days, especially when jackpots approach a billion.
But then… reality.
Some fortunate person in Georgia matched all six Mega Millions numbers Friday night. While I was here carefully flattening out my crumpled Alexandria-bought ticket just in case the scanner “made a mistake,” someone down South is probably already scrolling Pinterest boards titled “Which Color Lamborghini Says Responsible Adult?”
Meanwhile, your faithful publisher is still right here—pounding the cobblestones—dreaming small dreams like “retire before 104,” “replace the printer,” and “maybe get a parking spot that’s not half a zip code away.”
The winning numbers, by the way, were 1, 8, 11, 12, 57 and Mega Ball 7—in case you’d like to confirm your own shattered hopes. The jackpot had crept up to $980 million, the eighth largest in Mega Millions history, and someone actually did it.
And yes, I briefly imagined The Zebra finally getting that permanent endowment. I pictured future generations saying, “Remember when Mary hit the jackpot and funded citywide good-news coverage for eternity?” Then I checked my numbers and thought, “Well. Maybe next Tuesday.”
But fear not: I may not have won $980 million, but I did win another week of doing what I love—telling Alexandria’s stories, covering the good people of this city, and cheering on our community one headline at a time.
And honestly? That’s a pretty great consolation prize.
(…though I still would’ve enjoyed that vacation condo.)
—Mary
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