Luck’s not a lady...but it is a temptress!

The grocery store clerk handed me the three cards at the end of our transaction. There was a promotion of some kind. Nine shielded circles, three of which could be scratched off. And only three. If you got three matching, you won a prize.

Hm-m-m, interesting the memories that aroused. One of an Avon meeting where one of the door prizes was a raffle ticket. Being quite unacquainted with the process, I asked my friend next to me to do whatever was supposed to be done. There is no memory of having won anything, though.

So there I sat, late at night---me with my three cards. I had thought I would have Johnie do one or two, that perhaps his luck would be better than mine. Then I figured he had enough to do trying to salvage his aching back, so I scratched off the first three on the first card. No match. Then two on each of the other two cards. After all, if those didn’t match, what use to do the third? (And yes, I did go back later and scratch them all off just to prove to myself that there actually were matches there.)

Three matches out of nine. I’m not sure statistically what the chances are. But when I hear on the radio of one in three hundred plus thousand or even a million something, I’m pretty sure mine were better with those cards. Not quite so good, the possibilities of winning a community raffle. Amazing that even of a relatively limited number of entries rolling around in the bin, the host never selected mine. One early morning, he did call the name of a friend. So I called her to let her know, and she won!

But the other more poignant memory is of the time when the children were young and our finances so strained that they were causing sleeplessness. Grandma and Grandpa had gifted us with a subscription to The Reader’s Digest. Still on our bookshelves are several volumes purchased in a vain effort to qualify more fully for the grand prize. Vain, vain, but oh what a treasured prospect—--something, anything that could suddenly change our straitened circumstances into at least solvency...never mind the mind-boggling riches!

And when no one appeared on our doorstep with an over-sized check or slipped us a quiet fortune in an anonymous envelope, we got up the next morning and continued our daily labors. Up hill and down. Richer and poorer, relatively speaking. But somehow we always made it, though not without help from both the seen and the Unseen.

How grateful I am to look back now on those years and be able to be thankful for the journey. Not that we’ve reached our destination, but at least we have courage for the voyage. As Mother entitled her personal history, it takes “Lots of Work and Luck.” I’d add blessings to the equation, but would never deny the necessity of the hard work.

Besides, as my dad used to say, “The lottery can’t possibly be good for you. After all, look at what it does to your heart when you simply imagine winning!”

Work to make your dreams come true, and then look for the miracles along the way. But don’t put too much stock in Lady Luck.

P.S. The fellow bagging my groceries that day said that he had won half a million dollars once, in Florida. He apparently did a lot of good things with the money, including putting his daughter through school. But, ironically, there he was, bagging groceries!