Disappointment is ...

... receiving a letter notifying you that you’ve won a $1,000,000 Lotto jackpot, then reading the second paragraph and finding out that 999,999 other people picked the same number you did. You will each receive one dollar, before taxes.
... realizing that your grandchild looks exactly like your baby pictures (heavy dose of guilt. What a dreadful thing to do to an innocent child).
... taking your mother’s prized crystal candy dish to an antique show and having an appraiser tell you it’s a piece of junk and that you should be using it to feed your dog.
... finding out that that guy you really hated in high school became a doctor, gave all his money to charity, joined the Peace Corps and discovered a cure for a deadly tropical disease. Now you can’t hate him anymore.
... being told that your high school sweetheart became fabulously wealthy after getting rid of you, and has started a web site dedicated to hunting you down and having you shot.
... watching as that built-in bookcase you spent all weekend making slowly collapses under the weight of all your back issues of National Geographic.
... discovering that your neighbor’s cat has delivered a litter of kittens on the back seat of your brand new car, because you left the window open to let it air out.
... going to a class reunion and discovering that every single one of your class mates is now either a telemarketer or a mutual funds salesman. You’ll never be lonely again because you posted your telephone number on the class web site.
... opening your front door to find a paper sack on fire on your porch, then trying to stomp it out before you remember what a disgusting (and old) practical joke it is.
... rushing out into a rain storm to pick up your mail before you remember that it is a National Holiday and there isn’t going to be any mail.
... opening the newspaper and finding that the guy who talked you into buying 500 shares of Global Telecom has been arrested for securities fraud.
... running into an old friend on the street and finding that he has joined the First Universalist Church of the Utterly Obnoxious and is duty bound to harass you until you either give him $20 or have a nervous breakdown.
... mowing your lawn and realizing that the awful noise coming from beneath the mower results from running over your brand new graphite shafted five iron that your kid dragged out of your golf bag to play with.
... going to your youngest child’s college graduation, thinking you’re finally going to get your life back, then coming home to have your wife tell you, “Honey, the pills didn’t work.”