When it comes to being lucky, consider me an unlucky gal.

I could never find a four-leaf clover. I have been searching for one since I was in kindergarten, when I learned of the luck those little weeds could bring me.

Horse shoes? Where could I find those? I never got the pony I wanted when I was younger, so horse shoes were out of the question.

A rabbit’s foot? I could never hunt a rabbit just for its foot. Why sacrifice a cute little bunny just to be lucky? I don’t think so, plus, I think killing a rabbit is not lucky anyway.

As far as clothes went, I didn’t own any lucky clothes. I did look at the clothes in Lucky magazine, though.

After searching for all those lucky things, I realized I should give up and just deal with being unlucky.

A couple of days ago I was feeling lucky and something inside me told me it would be my lucky day. Instead of letting my lucky feeling go to waste, I did something about it.

I didn’t have a shamrock or a horse shoe; I had a lottery ticket.

I chose my numbers wisely; off the back of a Chinese fortune from a cookie I had eaten the night before.

Thanks to that fortune cookie and of course, my luck, I won.

As I held the ticket in my hand I matched up the numbers once more to make sure I was just lucky and not delusional. After checking the numbers over a million times, the numbers matched up and my name was now turned into Lydia Earhart, the millionaire.

Thoughts of how much money I won flashed through my mind. I was the proud owner of $66 million. Honestly my first thought was “WAA HOO!” Then I sang the Jon and the Vangelis song, “Money, money, money, money … monnney.”

I thought of all the things I could do with the money I had won. Of course I would donate a large percentage of it to charity and to the journalism department. The many of shopping trips I could now afford were enough for anyone to want to buy a bigger closet. 

Then I heard a loud noise and realized I wasn’t 21, and I couldn’t legally buy a lottery ticket.

After I woke up and collected my feelings from winning the lottery in my dream, I decided to take a walk outside. I opened the door to a beautiful day filled with a bright sun shining over my head, green trees shading my path and a brisk wind blowing my hair out of my eyes.

I walked to my backyard and looked down at my garden gnome and below his foot was a clover. Without counting the leaves on the clover, I plucked it from its root. Finally I counted the leaves and realized I was luckier than I could ever imagine.

I was lucky to have a supportive family, and wonderful friends to share my lucky and unlucky stories with.

In my hand was yet another three-leaf clover that I now considered lucky.

 

 

Lydia Earhart is a junior journalism major and serves as a news editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to lee003@latech.edu.