This past Friday, Long Island, New York man Marvin Rosales Martinez got a blessing that was coming to him for more than a year: He cashed out on a $1 million dollar winning lottery ticket … but the story of how he got that ticket is nothing short of a miracle.
My mom has a saying: "Lo que va a ser para uno … " (probably from a song by Colombian Rey del Despecho Darío Gómez), which basically means that if something is meant to be for you, then there's not much anyone can do to get in the way of that. It can apply to negative things, like some sort of sad twist of fate, or in Rosales Martinez's case, the happiest endings to a story that started last October 2012.
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Rosales Martinez works as a landscaper on Long Island and last year was using a leaf blower to clean up leaves and debris on Long Island last year, left in Hurricane Sandy's aftermath. That's when he spotted the lottery ticket, which he says was all wet, so he took it home to dry. He first took the ticket to a 7-Eleven, which couldn't verify it, but thankfully he didn't give up and about a month later, Rosales Martinez took the ticket to a New York Lottery customer service center, which was eventually able to verify that it was indeed a winning ticket. For a cool $1 million no less!
Now Rosales Martinez was really honest in that he told the officials he had found the ticket, so a verification process had to be started to make sure no one came forward saying they'd misplaced the ticket or to make sure there was no theft involved. I have to admit, I may not have been as forthcoming, especially for fear that the ticket would be taken away! So I am really glad to hear that more than a year later, lottery officials were able to verify the ticket and Rosales Martinez as the rightful owner and winner of the huge prize!
"It's a lot of money," Rosales Martinez told the New York Daily News. "I'm going to help my family, buy a bunch of little gifts and invest some of it."
This story made me SO HAPPY. Martinez Rosales doesn't even speak English and the immigrant is now about $600,000 richer–the amount after taxes–after a huge stroke of luck! I was so touched that he's thinking of helping his family and his mom with the winnings, and I am really thrilled to know that after waiting more than a year (what must have felt like an eternity for him!), he's able to end the year with this huge blessing! I wish him and his family the best–and an amazing new year coming up!
Images via CNN.com
