Do You feel Lucky or Do You Make Your Own Good Luck?

Do you feel lucky? Well do you?

Sam and I read in this week’s Parade magazine – it comes in our Sunday newspaper – that Tom Brokaw, the NBC news guy, considers himself lucky. He lists his good fortune as surviving (so far) cancer, having a glam job where he’s been able to interview many famous world figures and be in the right place at the right time (like when the Berlin Wall came down), growing up in a small South Dakota town, and being married for 52 years to the same woman.

If Brokaw’s that lucky, do you suppose he goes to the local Native American casino or buys mega lottery tickets on a regular basis? Sam and I are betting not. But good for Brokaw. Sam and I believe a big part of feeling lucky is believing you’re lucky – as opposed to believing you’re unlucky.

I don’t believe I’m unlucky. I’ve never experienced a bout of bad luck on Friday the 13th for instance. And I’ve been rather spectacularly lucky too. I grew up in small towns, which I still prefer over big ones, I’ve been married to Kathleen for 23 years (and believe me, that involves a lot of luck), I have a decent retirement and my health, except for some minor glitches, remains relatively good. Oh! And I have Sam as my little buddy. Life doesn’t get much better than that!

Like Tom, I’ve been lucky so far to escape death. I didn’t die at the age of five when a giant hayfork fell out of a barn and wonked me on the head. I didn’t die when I came down with rheumatic fever and had to spend several months in a hospital. I didn’t die when I fell off a ladder right onto my head on a concrete sidewalk (I know other people who have died). I didn’t die when a guy almost ran over me out on the freeway or when a guy who apparently meant to shoot me let his gun fall out if his pants. H-m-m, maybe I should drive over to the casino or buy some mega lottery tickets – but I don’t feel that lucky.

According to a sidebar in the Parade magazine, you can enhance the possibility of experiencing good luck in your life by doing the following things: paying attention to what’s going on around you; by opening your calendar and having a little down time to give yourself flexibility to engage in enjoyable activities; increasing your odds by trying more different things; taking chances, though not foolish ones; and letting some things go – what’s done is done, right?

I feel really lucky these days because I’m writing books, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’m just about to finish number 5. That will make 5 books in five years. Not bad huh? I don’t know if I’ll ever get lucky enough to have some big time publisher pick my books up and distribute them to Barnes & Noble and Costco and places like that. What a thrill it will be to see my book(s) in Costco! I still remember the time I saw a magazine in the bookstores with an article I had written. Better yet, how about a movie of one of my books? I think dreaming can bring me good luck.

Anyway, enough about good luck, except to say that I am especially lucky to have a savior who loves me and friends like you all out there. You are the wind beneath my wings!