Guess who won the lottery!!!

Okay, so it wasn't us, but seriously...guess who won? I have never known anyone who has won the lottery, never thought I would know anyone who won the lottery, let alone be RELATED to someone who won the lottery!

So who won?

My oldest brother Ralph!

Can you believe it? We are all still floored. He is still speechless....which if you know him is really something. And we are all super excited for him!

He bought a lottery ticket from a store, up in Washington, a couple blocks from where he lives. He called me on Saturday to let me know there was a possiblity he had the winning ticket for a million dollar lottery. The store he had bought the ticket from was the store the winning ticket had been purchased from and the numbers all matched. He had to wait until today to go in and get it officially confirmed.

He called me this afternoon to confirm that he did, in fact, have the winning lottery ticket and that he had just left the bank, where he had deposited a check for $750,000! (Apparently they do a raffle system...something different than I would have expected...and so he got it all in one lump sum.)

My two other brothers were with him and they were on their way to have Sushi and Sake to celebrate!

Ralph is investing the money. He is anticipating having to pay around $400,000 (I think he said) in taxes next year. But he is hoping to file an extension on taxes so that the interest can accumulate and help cover the tax amount. Is he smart or what?!

So yes, I am related to someone who won the lottery! My brother is as close to a millionaire, for the time being, as anyone in our family will probably ever come! And, no, none of it will trickle down to me, so don't even ask!

Really, it's pretty unbelievable, when you think about the odds! But we are sure happy it was him. Congratulations big brother...you deserve every penny of it!