About a year ago at Wrestlemania 28 I declared I was going to
be at next year's event. The fact that the host city was just outside New York made
me even more excited about the show. I love everything about New York. Sometimes
in life things don’t go exactly the way you envisioned them. Reality started to
sink in as the months progressed that it would be mathematically impossible to
attend the event. Doubts begin to sink in regarding the situation and my days
became very dark. I wasn't upset because I couldn't attend another wrestling show;
heaven knows I have attended more shows than my boyhood dreams would allow me
to believe. The issue was not being able to live up to my word. I couldn’t follow through on something I
wanted and it started to depress me. The thought of having to watch this event
on PPV started to shake my confidence. I started to dread the day because there
was no hope for a ticket and I only had myself to blame. I didn't plan properly
but more importantly I didn't save up the way I should have, so in a way I
deserved to miss out on this event. I gave up on the idea of going but I
never lost the ability to dream. It was dreary day in the Chicago
Suburbs. It was much colder than normal so
staying in for the night seemed like the logical thing to do. My dinner plans
fell through so I decided to prepare a pathetic supper for one. It was just another average Tuesday the 12th
in March. Seven dollars of groceries later I had a five dollar bill left in my
wallet. I saw the scratch off lottery machine and said, "Why not." I
had been on hiatus from scratch tickets because my $10 a week habit wasn't really
paying off. I splurged and had to think about what ticket to buy because the
one I wanted was sold out. I selected one $5 Hit 1000 ticket and begin to walk
back to my car. I lighted up a cigarette and thought maybe I could win back my
grocery money which was always my goal in these situations. I scratched away
and got to final line and thought, "I didn't win shit." It was
expected after all my luck had been so miserable of late. I scratched the
second number on the last light and kind of passed up the number 12. I
continued to scratch the rest of the line as my mind processed the possibility
that I may have just won. Still in doubt I looked at the amount under the 12.
My hand began to shake and my mind was filled with disbelief. I actually had to
verify each letter under each number to convince myself I had won. I had Hit
$1000 just like the ticket had said. There wasn’t any doubt from the moment I
won what I was going to do with the money. I had given up on the idea but never
gave up on the dream. I pulled it all off with luck and pure desire. This was
the magic number that became my ticket Wrestlemania 29. My road to Wrestlemania
had finally begun…
