Sometimes, everything in life falls into place at the exact right moment. That was exactly what happened when Arron Walshaw, 32, and his fiancee, Ceri Hall, 23, or West Yorkshire, England won £1 million ($1.3 million) from a lottery ticket.
Last week, Arron rushed to a nearby store to claim a free ticket just a few minutes before the drawing closed. He arrived at the cash register at the same time as another woman, who decided to let Arron go ahead of her. It turned out to be a small but life-altering gesture.
“She must have seen that I was in a rush because she insisted I went before her,” Arron recalls. “I don’t think I would have been in time to buy my ticket if she hadn’t let me go first.”
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Without checking the ticket, Arron returned home where he and Ceri literally counted pennies. They gathered up all the pennies sitting around the house and were delighted to count up over £50 ($65) in pennies that they intended to use to go camping.
It wasn’t until the following night when Arron checked the ticket using an app on his phone that he and Ceri learned the ticket was worth £1 million.
“I just couldn’t understand what I was seeing when it said I had won a million pounds,” says Arron. “I showed Ceri and we just couldn’t believe it. We danced around the room thinking about what this money will do for us.”
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The money won’t be enough for the couple to live off of for the rest of their lives. But it will help him cut down on his hours while also allowing the couple to afford the house and wedding they’ve always wanted.
“We’ve got a wedding to plan and I want to make it the wedding of Ceri’s dreams,” says Arron.
The couple is also hoping their story will allow them to be reunited with the stranger whose kind gesture allowed it all to happen.
“What a stroke of luck that turned out to be,” said Arron. “We would love to meet her again and say thank you for changing our lives.”