BE Lucky

"KEEP YELLIN’ KIDS, THEY’LL STOP"… "KID’S STUFF AHEAD!"… "YOU NEVER SAUSAGE A PLACE!"…"IT’S ALWAYS SUNDAE AT PEDRO’S ICE CREAM FIESTA!" These were just some of the billboards we read as we neared South of the Border on our drive from Pennsylvania to Walt Disney World in 1974. My sister and I begged our parents to stop and luckily, Dad needed a break from driving and Mom never passed up a souvenir store!

We were each allowed to get one item and so I narrowed it down to Mexican jumping beans, some sparkler/fireworks or a lucky rabbit’s foot. In the end, I got a rosy colored rabbit’s foot on a small metal clasped, ball chain which was promised to bring me lots of luck! It would become the first of three special lucky charms I had throughout my lifetime. I attached it to my lunchbox when we got home from our trip and since my elementary school years were pretty happy...I’m gonna say it worked!

I found my second lucky charm one hot summer day in the late 1970’s. As most kids of my generation did, I played outside all the time -with friends, with my sister, and often, by myself. I remember spending hours on my swing set and playing endless rounds of 7-up (google it) with an old ratty tennis ball. Many times on those hot days I would lie in the shade under one of our big trees to take a rest. It’s there that I found my second lucky charm…a four leaf clover 🍀! Some say they are easily found, but this was the first and only one I had personally ever seen. My mom pressed it for me in this huge dictionary that we had and it stayed there until I was in my 30’s when I remember her bringing it to me in an envelope. Unfortunately, that envelope got lost pretty soon after that, but as fate would have it my third lucky charm was about to arrive soon and in a VERY interesting way!

One night in the early 2000's, I went up to bed around 11p.m. and could not fall asleep. This is very unusual for me as I am typically an ‘olympic-level sleeper’ LOL and I always went to bed by 10 p.m. Desperate to get some shut-eye, I made another unusual decision to turn the TV on instead of reading my book. The 11-11:30 p.m. hour, as you know, is mostly news so I ended up clicking far into the depths of our cable channels for something…anything…that would lull me to sleep. That’s when a familiar voice caught my attention. I went back a few channels to find the voice and listened until I could figure out who it was. Eventually, it hit me…it was John Boy from "The Waltons"! (Or rather the actor that played him.). UGH, I hated "The Waltons", but being the youngest child in a home with only one TV often meant I had to watch shows my sister liked which included... "The Waltons" 😔.

Anyway, John Boy was narrating the show and it was about how people who have passed away communicate with their loved ones who are still living. I was skeptical yet intrigued as I had just recently lost my dad. The first story was about a husband whose wife had died and he was convinced that he saw her face everyday in a cloud or a tree. 🤔 Hmmmm…sounded like a stretch to me. Plus the show was one of those that had bad actors depicting the true life stories so it was getting hard to watch! I was about to change the channel when they intro’d the next story about a wife and her son who had just lost their husband/father to stomach cancer. Wow, I thought…that’s what my dad died of…what are the odds of that? I felt compelled to watch more.

John Boy was explaining that before his death the man told his wife and son that he would leave pennies for them as a sign that he was watching over them. Again, I thought...hmmmm. The first example they gave was finding a penny on the floor of their car- I kid you not. Seriously? Who doesn’t have a penny on the floor of their car right next to an old french fry, a hair tie, and a crumpled receipt? This show was testing my patience! Next, they said they found pennies from their husband/father IN THEIR SOFA CUSHIONS! Well, that was the straw that broke the camels back. I gleefully thought 'GO AWAY JOHN BOY' as I hastily turned that TV off! And, that’s when the creepiest thing that has ever happened to me…happened.

I set the remote control on my nightstand and turned over onto my stomach to sleep. I put my left arm on top of the pillow and slid my right arm underneath it. And I froze. Something cold and hard brushed my fingertips. I sat up, moved the pillow, and almost passed out when I saw one shiny PENNY staring me in the face.😳 Frantically, I looked under my husband’s pillow, in the sheets and on the floor next to the bed for any sign of other coinage, but NO there was only the single CREEPY PENNY directly under my pillow. Even writing it now sends shivers down my spine!

Listen, I don’t believe it either…really I don’t, but so many odd things had to align in order for me to find that penny. I had to go to bed later than usual at 11p.m.; I had to not be able to fall asleep; I had to choose to consider watching a show on a cable channel I had never before ventured to view instead of reading my book; I had to hear a familiar voice and be curious enough to go back to the channel to figure out who it was; I had to hear that the next story was about a man who passed from stomach cancer so that I’d stick with the show; and I had to flip onto my stomach and put my arm under the pillow in order to find that penny. Coincidences? Maybe. Easily explained? Hmmm...IDK. Creepy, yet super cool and lucky if you let yourself believe? Definitely!

I've kept that lucky penny safe ever since that night. Despite the fact that it came to me in a very mysterious way, it is by far my favorite of all the lucky charms I've ever had. My life has been blessed beyond my wildest expectations and for the extra luck that penny brought me along the way I say- thanks Dad ❤️! But...next time could you be a little more subtle?

{Side note: When my husband came to bed that night I told him the story. He didn’t hesitate for a second…he grabbed his pillow and a blanket and said "I’m sleeping on the couch!"}