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She called me an "old hag" after I won the lottery, but she never read the name on the ticket.

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A life found again

Money brought me more than comfort. It gave me a second life. I bought back the small house I had lost. I replanted roses in my garden. I traveled to places I had always dreamed of, facing oceans and mountains I thought I would never see.

But the greatest gift wasn't money. It was peace.

Her children—my grandchildren—returned. Their laughter filled my home, replacing years of silence. Their hugs, their joy, their simple presence reminded me that love is the only treasure worth preserving.

Lessons written in gold

Even now, sometimes in the stillness of the night, I hear her voice in my memory:  old witch.

But those words no longer hurt me. They no longer have any power. For they were never my curse, they were his. His greed, his pride, his inability to love the woman who had given him everything.

I survived his rejection and thrived.

Above my fireplace, framed for all to see, hangs this old winning ticket. Not because of the fortune it brought me, but because of the truth it represents:

In the darkest moments of my life, fate had already chosen its side. My name was written on the winning hand from the start.

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