April 15, 2011-James's View

April 15 started out like any other day. I taught a class and then went to a doctor's appointment. I had met Monica briefly in the parking lot. After telling her that I did not get a slot, she joked "My life sucks!" and drove away. I went inside to wait for my appointment.

Just out of curiosity, I was scrolling through the list of lottery winners. I was seeing if there was anyone from our area that would be going. I saw the name of our town and thought "who else does the Ironman there?" Then I saw my name! I dropped my phone and started shaking. I got up and walked outside. Soon, two nurses came rushing out to see if I was alright. I shakily said "I got a slot!" And one said, "yes, your appointment is at 2:15". "No," I said, "I got an Ironman slot!" They just looked at me like I was crazy and went back inside.

I then excitedly called Monica and when she did not answer, I left a voicemail for her to call me. After that, I called my buddy, Brad, and left another voicemail. I went back inside for my appointment. Monica called back when I was in with the doctor. The doc thought her screaming through the phone was quite amusing!

We came home, looked at the email some more and proceeded to call our friends and family to tell them our exciting news.

We picked Aaron up from school and took him out for ice cream to celebrate. When we told him, he just looked kind of stunned for a few minutes, but the excitement soon set in. A few weeks before, he had made a sign that said "We need to go to Hawaii!" Now, we were going to go!

Words cannot fully describe the shock of getting a lottery shot. This was a shot I never thought I would get!