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One day when I was getting ready for work my friend called and said “I’ve got good news and bad news – which do you want first?” I said good news. Then he told me we had gotten five numbers right in last night’s drawing and we won $1,304. I said “Great, now what is the bad news?” He told me the very first number I picked was a 3 and if I had chosen a 4 instead – we would be splitting $7.5 million dollars. Well, I punched the wall and busted a knuckle. I was angry about not picking that number four every day for a very long time.

A few years later I moved to the state of Tennessee with a company I was working for and met the love of my life. We got married and had our first born – a beautiful little boy named Tommy.

Stay with me now because the story is about to come together.

I worked in a management role that required many hours of work. I usually left the house before Tommy got up and frequently he was asleep when I got home. Each morning, I would write Tommy a letter while having my coffee. I would tell him stories about anything and mostly tell him how much I loved him.

One night I was standing in his bedroom while he was sitting at a little table. It was two weeks before his 3rd birthday so he spoke in baby words (really cute). He said, “Daddy, me love da letters you write me every day – they make me happy and me smile all day.” He asked, “you carry you wallet to work everyday?” I replied, “Yes I do Tommy, why?” He reached down on the floor where a full deck of cards was spread out face down. He grabbed a card, put it on the table and drew some squiggly lines on it. He handed it to me and said, “dis is me note to you, it says me love you. You put dis in u wallet and u wook at it every day and u know me love u.”

I got choked up and I got down by his table, gave him a big hug, and told him I would carry the card with me for the rest of my life.

I put the card in my wallet and that was it until the next morning when I was on my way to work. While driving on a back road, deep in thought about how wonderful the previous night with him had been, I realized that I never looked at the card (and I’ve always been a big gambler). As I reached for my wallet, I was thinking – this will be my lucky number forever. And what number do you think it would it be? It was the number four. Not only was it the number that haunted me for years, but it was the four of hearts. It was such a shock to me I almost had an accident. My heart was pounding because I realized immediately that the number four that I wished I had picked in that lottery drawing years ago, was actually my new favorite number of all time. I also realized that if I had picked that number four instead of the three I picked, it would have prevented me from becoming the wealthiest man in the world. Winning millions of dollars would have prevented me from true wealth – my family because if I had won those millions, I would have never moved out of state and I would not have true wealth – my baby boy. Later, my baby girl. The 4 of hearts also represents the 4 hearts in my family.

That card is still in my wallet (I had it laminated so it would last) and will be forever. My family completely filled the void that I thought required money. I was and am content. That four of hearts card is worth more than any amount of money. The secret to happiness, in my opinion, is family.