Luck

I am a European mutt.  The daughter of a dad who is half German, a quarter Irish, an eighth English, and an eighth Swedish and a mom who is half Czech, a quarter German, and a quarter Irish.

All that makes me a quarter Irish.  And I’ve got the freckles, sunburn-prone complexion, and Catholic guilt to prove it.

And this Irish quarter asserted itself pretty mightily in my community growing up, especially on this day.  Saint Patrick’s Day parades were held, “Kiss Me! I’m Irish!” t-shirts were donned, Irish soda bread was devoured, green food coloring was liberally added to sugar cookie dough.

And luck was contemplated.

And every year on this day, I still think about luck.  I think about the great good fortune of Life.  Of my life.

As a kid, I knew I was lucky.  I was a healthy, generally happy kid.  I had two parents who loved me and two brothers who, despite their best efforts to aggravate me, did too.  We had a comfortable house.  We went to good schools.  We ate plenty of food.

And my luck only blossomed as I grew up and more and more charms were added to my bracelet.

I was lucky to have the chance to go to the college I wanted to and to pursue a career in a field that felt meaningful to me.

I was lucky to meet and marry a man who is not only my best friend, but is also a true partner in parenting.

I am lucky to have two healthy children who – everyday – prove to me that love is boundless and beyond definition.

I am lucky to have family and friends who support and love me.

I am lucky to have the chance to read and write every day.

And today I feel very lucky to have you, all of you, in this burgeoning community.  To me, you are the four-leaf clovers in my field of shamrocks.

I have a very lucky life – a spectrum of luck – but you, my friends, turned up like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and have made that lucky life feel even luckier.

So, for you today, I offer a token of my gratitude to you and to luck – my luck in finding you and for having you and your words in my life: an Irish blessing I learned as a child and still find moving in its simplicity and power.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

I hope that your day is full of good luck, good health, and good times.  And the chance to stop and appreciate all of them.

What are you feeling lucky for today?

Image: Four Leaf Clover by John Hansen via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Tagged as: Big Boy, Catholic, Czech, English, European, fortune, four-leaf clover, freckles, German, Husband, Irish, Irish blessing, love, luck, May the road rise to meet you, Motherese, mothereseblog, pot of gold, rainbow, Saint Patrick's Day, shamrock, sunburn, Swedish, Tiny Baby