I suppose my first experience with the concept of a prize was when i was a very young kid and would open a box of Cracker Jacks with the “prize inside.” I liked the caramel coated popcorn and peanuts, but having something special inside each box, even a cheap, little, plastic trinket, was fun.

I didn’t win much in the way of prizes growing up. I wasn’t very athletic, so I won no prizes for my athletic prowess. I once won a second place prize in an elementary school science fair entry, although I can’t remember what my science fair project actually was.

In college I used to participate in weekend road rallies with one of my buddies. I was the driver and he was the navigator and we actually came home with a third place prize one time. We did maybe two or three dozen rallies and that third place finish was the one and only time we finished in the money. We had fun, though.

I remember being a member of the top sales team one quarter for a job I held and each of us on the team was given an Apple iPad, which, at the time, was a pretty nice prize.

I still fantasize about winning a giant jackpot prize in one of the major lotteries (Powerball or Mega Millions), but it’s been a few years since I last bought a lottery ticket, so that’s one fantasy that is unlikely to be fulfilled.

And then there’s my wife, who I consider to be a true prize. Last month she awarded me the Stupid Husband Tricks prize when, during a brief respite in a series of heavy rainstorms, I decided to take out my ladder and clean debris out of my gutters only to fall off the ladder and fracture a hip and an arm. That’s a prize I would rather not have won.

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Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, where the word is “prize”