Winner...

When I was a kid.. I was maybe 12 years old would be safe guess....and I am sure it was a weekend night, which meant mom was working... she suggested that I go to see the Cohasset Youth Theatre Production of "Mary Poppins" she said "the Birmann kid's are in it and Brenda's friend Abby directed it, after Angela will pick you up." So I went.
It was at Cohasset town hall. Not a real stage. The audience sat on the floor, mostly kids and it was a cute local children's production. Micheal Birmann was the bank teller...Tina was the mother (I think) and Brenda was like the assistant director. I don't know if she was even in it.
The Birmann's use to be neighbours of our when we were young. Then they moved to Cohasset, the next town over..to a cool OLD crickity house a stones throw from one of the best beaches in New England. If you don't live there you don't know about it...in fact even those that do live there don't know about it...SO good family friends.. my parents were the three Birmann kids God Parents..you know. They were more my sisters age, but all in all, they were a nice group to be with growing up....
So back to the show....when I got to the play, I bought a ticket and they told me to keep the stub. It had a number on it and there is a drawing during intermission. It was a hand written number so it wasn't like one of these professional ticket stubs with like 25 different numbers on it. This was a low budget youth production and it was good. I find a place to cop a squat on the floor and the show started.... Very entertaining I must say. I was there by myself. I knew no one, on the floor, only in the cast, so I enjoyed it. During intermission they had the drawing...Brenda and Abby stood upfront and showed the prized. there may have been five or six and they were nothing special to the average Joe, but to the kids it was heaven... LARGE Candy bars. the big ones. the jumbo size ones. back then they could have cost, like $1.50 which to a child candy purchaser THAT was a lot of money (since regular candy bars were like 5 cents or 10 cents)
SO they called numbers and kids got up and got their candy, and to my surprise. Abby called my number.. I was shocked. I got up and Brenda saw it was me and said "yeah, Missy." It was great. I was sooo excited, it was a Nestle Crunch Bar. Naturally I opened it during the second part of the show and shared it with a few kids around me....but I won something..it was great...

The other day, I think I had a gross lunch. It really didn't settle to well with me, so I was laying in bed trying to pass the nausea w/o acting on the nausea...flipping channels waiting for Oprah to come on and my phone rang. a New York number, so I was sure it was the car insurance place trying to sell me road side assistance AGAIN....
"hello."
"Hi, I am looking for Missy Williams.." her voice was very pleasant...and since she asked for 'Missy' I thought it was someone that my sister gave my name to to do her nails....
"This is Missy."
"Hi Missy, my name is Mary Lenore from Bop Star Baby. Your name was given to me from 'Pregnancy & Newborn magazine' and you won the great gift.. a Bop Star Baby basket...."
"I won the gift basket? Really...?"
"yes, I am the ........" and she went on. we had such a nice conversation. Well long story LONGER.. but Once I got off the phone w/ her I looked in august issue and saw that the gift basket is worth over $800. of gifts. I also checked her web site and she is the lady that designs baskets for the stars babies...This is a great gift. a car seat and much much more... She said she likes to personalize the baskets so I will call her back in Oct when we find out what we are having,and then she will send it along.
You know what... my husband was SOOOOO excited. We don't have a lot or want a lot. We just want this baby that is growing in my belly. We are blessed to have this winning. very blessed.
I was SOOO excited.....It was like winning a Nestle Crunch Candy Bar. It's been years since that play and that candy bar, but I remember the feeling of winning.....Sure I won some swim races and track races and softball games.
But it's always the unexpected win that feels the best...A candy bar or a baby gift basket...they were both unexpected wins....a winner...