How a man made $1 million out of a United Airlines flight cancellation

It could happen to you. It could.

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.

You know that sinking feeling. The one that comes immediately after you see or hear the word canceled associated with your flight.

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You go through stages of anger, then hope, and then finally resignation.

Perhaps that's what happened to Paul Kuharevicz. He was booked on a SkyWest United Express flight from Chicago's O'Hare airport to Muskegon in Michigan.

You might think the plane Muskegon without him. But no. It was simply canceled, leaving him with a decision to make.

He chose to rent a car and drive the more than 200 miles home. As Fox 17 reports, when he got home, he remembered that he'd left his bike at work. So he drove there.

But on the way, he made one stop. At the Ladd's and Company convenience store. There, he bought a Mega Millions lottery ticket.

No, he didn't win mega millions. Just a simple, cool $1 million.

Yes, it's surely less than Dr. David Dao got for being dragged, bloody-faced off a United flight earlier this year. Still, it's not a bad sum for his trouble.

If the flight had been on time, he'd likely have got home sooner. Perhaps he wouldn't have gone to work to pick up his bike.

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Even if he had, it likely wouldn't have been at the same moment that he bought his ticket.

Pity turned to serendipity.

I contacted United to ask how it felt about being the unwitting impetus to good fortune. I will update, should I hear.

There's a touching lesson here, though.

Sometimes, a difficulty or a failure can seem all-encompassingly painful.

It can ruin your morning, your day, your week. Nay, your life.

Sometimes, though, it can lead to an unexpected joy--in this case, something that can change a life.

Kuharevicz said that thanks to the windfall, his wife can now happily retire.

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Oh, I won't stretch to offering a vacuous message of don't despair.

Instead, please just consider how utterly random and absurd life can be.

Hey, a flight cancellation could happen to you. It very likely will.

But then good things could happen too. Usually, when you least expect them.