Why Single Mothers Never Hit the Lottery

The lottery prize for this week was two hundred million dollars. You read this correctly people - $200,000,000 was the amount of money up for grabs for some lucky person or persons who may win the lotto. That amount of money with the economic state of the world today is almost unfathomable. I never play the lottery. As a matter of fact I used to scold my mother and made the point that if she saved every dollar she had played on the lotto at the end of the year she'd have a nice little stash of money saved. My other point would be of course she was one portion of the people who had contributed to the $200,000,000 prize by way of her $1 play with the odds of winning being less than 1 in 100 million. At least it helps our schools, right?

Having lost my job, daycare for my daughter, and leaving my apartment all within this past week I finally understand why so many people play the lottery. I know that it's not ok to pray to win the lotto, but can you pray for the insight to know the right combination of numbers to bring an end to the financial struggle that has been my life from the time my daughter was born? I guess it's similar to the issue that some churches preach that you should ask God to bless you with prosperity. Is it right or wrong? The lottery represents the possibility of a financial explosion. Every bill that has haunted you, every creditor that has called, every student loan unpaid, and every necessity that you may have gone without the lotto promises paid. The potential to gain Two Hundred million dollars...even possibly split into a yearly sum, or split into 1/3 its value after taxes is still more than most people will ever earn in their lifetime.

Single working mothers face an especially difficult plight in our country today. Often too many make just over the federal poverty level that has been outlined to qualify to receive any assistance. I have always made too much money to qualify for food stamps, when pregnant I was blessed to receive healthcare for the duration of my pregnancy, and I have never been able to receive any other type of public assistance. Section 8 housing has a list thousands of people long and is usually frozen to new applicants. The average wait for section 8 housing assistance is 5 years. The reason being many of those on the list never better their lives to transition out. Perhaps they don't transition because of hard luck, but many don't out of convenience. The more children you have the more assistance you will qualify for. The system simply can't keep up with some females averaging a child per year for up to 6 years. The rest of us are forced to wait and work our asses off and hope that someday we can receive the same relief.

When I play that $1 shot in the dark I play it with the hope that something magical may happen. I know that nothing in life comes free or easy-this is a fact of life that I am well aware of. Perhaps you never hear of single mom's winning the lottery because it's simply not within the budget to sacrifice that dollar on such a long shot. Hell, I'd even be ok if the State of Ohio could even collect on the $20,000+ of back child support owed to me over the past 3 years. We all can dream.