A friendly gesture: Man has no greater love than to return a winning lottery ticket given to him by mistake and so a man in Maryland found out. He purchased a $5 scratch-off lottery ticket, misread it and gave it to his pal to enter into the state’s second chance My Lottery Rewards contest. The friend gave the ticket a second look and saw that it was, in fact, a top prizewinner worth $50,000. So, he did what any self-respecting friend would do; he gave it back to his pal.
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An early Christmas for needy kids: Sadly, Toys “R” Us is no more. The iconic toy store chain shut down all of its stores, nationwide, on Friday, June 29th but not before one of its stores in Raleigh, NC made its last big sale. It seems a last minute shopper showed up at the eleventh hour, as they say, and bought up a million dollars worth of toys. He didn’t want his identity to be revealed because the anonymous customer turned out to be a regular Santa Claus who distributed his haul to needy children.
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She’s not heavy; she’s my wife: As many of you probably already know, the 23rd World Wife-Carrying Championships were held recently in Sonkajarvi, Finland. Fifty-three brawny hubbies from 13 countries, including the United States, shouldered their responsibilities and carried their wives for an hour-long trek over a treacherous course. The crowds cheered as Vytautas Kirkliauskas of Lithuania carried his wife Neringa piggyback over the finish line in first place.
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Lucky little lady: A lucky 10-year-old girl has set the world record for finding four-leaf clovers—and she didn’t even have to leave her Spotsylvania County, VA backyard. According to the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC], the folks who keep track of world records at Guinness say it was the first entry of its kind and so they set a goal of 25 clovers in the space of one hour in order to establish a record. But, young Katie Borka picked a total of 166 four-leaf clovers in the allotted 60 minutes.
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Heavens above!: Will Pope Francis become the first Pontiff in space? It’s not likely, but he would be “well suited” if he so decides [forgive the pun]. Five astronauts, three Americans, an Italian and a Russian, recently presented the Pope with his very own blue International Space Station flight suit. They also provided him with a white skullcap embroidered with his name, the Vatican flag and the official NASA logo.
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It’s never too late to say, I am sorry: An elderly Texas man, who wishes to remain anonymous, has decided that at 90 years of age it is time to make restitution for the mistakes he made in life. He even sent a $50 bill and a hand-written note of apology to the town of Midvale in Utah. The note read: “I am enclosing this $50 to pay for a stop sign I took many years ago when I was a thoughtless teenager. Stupid might be a better word for it.” Officials in Midvale believe the crime was perpetrated about 75 years ago.
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On The Square 