Sometime before the lottery I made a sarcastic comment that I would automatically draw No. 1 since my birhtday is July 4th.  In fact, I only watched maybe the first 120 numbers being called, then I went to my room to study.  One of my roommates got number 17.  He was pretty calm about it.  I eventually ended up with number 279.  I felt happy about that.

Over the years since the lottery, especially during those years shortly after the Vietnam war ended, I’ve felt a lot of gratitude about never getting drafted, and sadness for the many friends I knew who did.  Not that I minded the idea of eventually serving in the military so much, but I sure did not want to go to Vietnam.  Really glad I missed that one. 

Those years were hard.  I had hoped it taught us a lesson about getting involved in another country’s internal unrest.  Guess not.