It was the 9th Anniversary party of the Catalyst Ranch and the crowd was gathered around the raffle drawing.  All of the buckets with lucky tickets had been pulled and only the last fabulous prize remained. This bucket had the most tickets. This bucket was the one I wanted.

I hovered near the front, tickets pulled from my back pocket, reading the numbers, trying to memorize them, wishing hard to take home the gold.

The room hushed and they pulled the final ticket.  Over the microphone I thought I heard Lennie, but waited to hear it again since no one  responded.  Again I thought I heard Lennie and screamed “Lennie! I’m Lennie!” And waved my ticket in the air.

Eva, the owner, smiling sweetly said, “We said, Nobody.”  We’re going to have to do this again.

The crowd laughed.  I laughed..in that tragic sort of I can’t believe I just did that, it’s so me way.

They reached back into the bucket..and pulled out the final ticket of the night.  Slowly and clearly they read the numbers.   338510…338510..

OMG!!!! 338510! “That’s me!”

The room roared, “You willed that to happen!” “I can’t believe it!” “This is hysterical!”

And the designer rubber gloves with leopard trim were mine!

Fifteen years earlier I had sketched out an entire line of designer rubber gloves and pitched them to an executive at Dial.  Mine had poodles and fire plugs, pearl rings and patterns. He thought they were adorable but said there would never be a market for them.  But there they were, designer rubber gloves.

I never had the desire to build that company. The joy for me was in the imagining. Yet now there are several companies that sell versions of the product, each with their own style and packaging.

As I look back it is not with regret but rather great satisfaction. It is not whether or not it was a viable idea for a company, but whether the imagineer had the conviction to drive it into reality.  For me, I left it on the drawing board.

And it was returned to me in a drawing.

Was it fate, energy, will or luck that a force decided – you will have these in your life – one way or another?