CALGARY - A $30-million Lotto Max win was enough for a Calgary man to cancel his tattoo appointment.

But Darrell Szczerba couldn't share the news with his wife, Laurie, right away because she was getting her nails done.

Szczerba says he was waiting to be inked last Saturday when he went to a convenience store across the street to check the couple's Feb. 15 ticket.

It turned out the ducat had won the largest lottery jackpot in Calgary's history.

He tried to call his wife, but she was having a manicure and had turned off her phone's ringer, so she didn't find out until she got home.

Now that they've had time to think about it, they plan to retire and take a trip somewhere warm.

Darrell is also thinking about buying a limited edition truck to match the motorcycle he already owns.

The Szczerbas picked up their cheque on Friday and Darrell recalled the moments after the store clerk confirmed he had won.

“My first thought was, ‘I’ve got to drive home,’” he said. “I went back across the street and cancelled my appointment.

“I couldn’t sit there with a winning ticket in my pocket.”

When his wife finally walked through the door at home, he immediately blurted out the news.

“I dropped the bags in my hand and they didn’t get picked up until the next day,” Laurie laughed. “The way he said it, I knew it was true.”

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said the couple picked up their cheque in St. Albert, Alta.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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• $30 Million Win

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/02/22/laurie-darrell-szczerba-calgary-lotto-winners_n_2744527.html?1361583243" target="_hplink">Darrell and Laurie Szczerba of Calgary won the $30 million prize </a>for the Lotto Max draw, the largest lottery jackpot in Calgary's history to date. The couple plans to retire and take a trip somewhere warm. Read more here: <a href="http://huff.to/13vIeDG" target="_hplink">http://huff.to/13vIeDG</a>

• $25 Million Win

  A couple from southeastern Alberta won nearly $25 million in Lotto 6-49 and planned to help family and friends — and retire to the Okanagan valley in British Columbia. Tim and Kendolyn Elliott won $24,907,026 in the Jan. 21 draw Read the full story at <a href="http://huff.to/QAlfXR">http://huff.to/QAlfXR</a>

• $20 Million Win

  18 lucky oil and gas employees won $20 Million in August. The workers — all men — have been playing regularly together for about five years. Read the full story at <a href="http://huff.to/QAlEcK">http://huff.to/QAlEcK</a>

• $25 Million Win

  Another group of Alberta Oil Workers won $25M in a Lotto win in November. The 15 men who work in the Edson area west of Edmonton split half of the $50 million Lotto Max prize. Keith Gould, one of the winners, waited until the group's regular morning meeting to break the news to his colleagues about their windfall. Read the full story at <a href="http://huff.to/QAlZw2">http://huff.to/QAlZw2</a>

• $45.6 Million Win

  A southern Alberta woman "wasn't really making sense" when she called her husband to tell him they'd won more than $45.6 million in a Lotto 6-49 draw in November. She says the number of zeros didn't register in her brain when she took her ticket to a self-checker at the Casino Lethbridge where she bought the ticket. Read the full story at <a href="http://huff.to/QAmkyU">http://huff.to/QAmkyU</a>