Bringing Luck

Do you avoid stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk so you will not "break your mother's back"? Never walk under ladders? Turn around if a black cat crosses your path?

People consider these to be "bad luck" omens. So in order to have good luck you need to stay away from them.

And of course there are those things that are considered good luck or bad luck depending on circumstances or where you live. Some people refuse to accept a two dollar bill thinking it will bring bad luck. Others believe a two dollar bill is a sign of good luck.

When my children were small I would tell them that if a lady bug landed on them it would bring them good luck. We would lie for the longest time in a patch of clover trying to find one with four leaves. To receive a silver dollar was a guarantee of good luck to come. And how many little boys have you known who did not have a lucky rabbit's foot?

Grandpa used to nail old horseshoes over the barn door. He insisted that the ends of the horseshoe point up so the good luck would not spill out. I have heard other people say to point them down so the good luck will pour over the door. Since Grandpa was a cowboy I will agree with him.

My children used to go to the store to buy candy. There was some sort of treat that came with a little iron figurine. The figurines were like Vikings or Medieval soldiers. One of my sons named his first character Bruno.

Apparently another of the kids was afraid of something and my son said that Bruno would protect them all. Then he placed Bruno on the door frame and left him there. Soon all the figures they bought at the store were perched over doors all over the house. And they were all named Bruno.

My children still like the comfort of having Brunos guarding the house from the top of the door.

My oldest granddaughter was very small and having horrible dreams. She was too small
to even be able to tell anyone what the dreams were about but no one could calm her except her father.

My son would often be called at work because she woke from her nap screaming. He would talk to her on the phone until she was soothed enough to let her mother hug her for a while.

As she got older she did not wake up screaming so we thought the bad dreams were over.

Dream catchers had become a new craze. A dream catcher is a round frame with a webbing stretched inside. At the center of the dream catcher where the webbing comes together there is a small opening.

The story of the dream catcher is that you place it over your bed. When you dream the dream catcher will catch all the dreams. It allows the good dreams to go to the dreamer. Bad dreams are captured in the center of the webbing and will simply burn away in the sunlight of the day.

My oldest son saw a dream catcher that he thought was nice and bought it to decorate his room. My granddaughter was several years older by then. She saw it hanging in her uncle's room. I watched her as she studied carefully. She did not realize that I noticed.

Finally she looked at her uncle and nonchalantly asked him, "Does that thing really work?" He bought her one the following weekend. Now everyone has at least one.

When I was quite young my father introduced all of us to Petey. Petey is our family gremlin.

Gremlins are those little characters that cause glitches in machines. If the car develops a ping, Petey did it. If the television has wavy lines, Petey did it. These days if the computer crashes, Petey did it. Petey has been with our family since World War II.

Now I have all these little Irish children. You would not believe the tricks the leprechauns play on us. They hide car keys, put a very small object on floor where you are sure to step on it, or maybe rip a seam in your favorite pair of pants. They are tricky little creatures.

We all have leprechaun statues and figurines too.

So buy a shamrock plant and keep the luck growing at all times. Better yet, give some shamrock seeds to a friend and pass the luck on to them too.