By Cate Lecuyer
CNHI News ServiceSALEM, Mass. -- I was a little kid eating hamburgers outside with my parents, and they asked me to run inside and get some ice cream sandwiches for dessert.
As I was speeding across the grass, something caught my eye. I stopped, turned around, and picked up a four-leaf clover. We were all amazed.
"I'm going to find another one!" I exclaimed. My father shook his head, explaining that's not how it works. But a couple hours later, I had proved him wrong.
That's how it started.
Since then, not a summer has gone by when I haven't found at least one four-leaf clover. I'll start to get nervous around the end of August, worried it might be bad luck not to reach the quota, but somehow I always manage to come through. It's in the back of my mind, but I don't go looking.
Last year I was out to brunch in Vermont with some friends. We left the restaurant, and there was a dog lying in the grass. We went to pet him, and I found a four-leaf clover by his head.
The year before, I was walking across a field, talking with a friend on the way to the metro in Washington, D.C. I happened to look down mid-conversation, and there it was.
I keep all 28 pressed between the pages of "The Firehouse Cookbook," which is where the first clover wound up. I've carried the book with me through my life, but have never actually made any of the recipes.
What does it all mean?
Well, I'm a quarter Irish, and Irish legend says each leaf stands for something: the first for hope, the second for faith, the third for love, the fourth for luck.
From a more religious standpoint, Saint Patrick is said to have used the three-leaf shamrock to represent the Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The fourth leaf is a bonus, for God's grace. Some accounts say Eve carried a four-leaf clover from the Garden of Eden, and others claim they were a Celtic charm used to ward off evil spirits. The Druids believed someone who found such a clover would find something else good soon after.
Research shows there's one four-leaf clover for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers, and scientists argue whether the mutation is environmental or genetic. There are also five, six — even 20-leaf varieties, but we won't get into that.
The real question is whether or not my knack for finding four-leaf clovers has brought me any luck.
I can say with full authority that the ability in no way enhances my chances of choosing the winning lottery numbers. I've found neither fame nor fortune. I've had my fair share of car accidents and broken hearts — but I also hit my head on the bottom of a pool when I was 17 and walked away with barely a scar. I was born in July — lucky number seven! I've also broken a mirror once or twice.
Since luck is immeasurable, I base it more on attitude than actual events. When something good happens — or when something bad doesn't happen — you have to recognize it in order to appreciate it.
For me, finding a four-leaf clover is simply a gentle reminder to reflect on everything I have. Does that make me lucky? Absolutely.
And while having those reminders stashed away in a random book doesn't hurt, there's no reason why a certain Irish holiday, perhaps, can't serve the same purpose.
Cate Lecuyer writes for The Salem (Mass.) News. She can be reached at clecuyer@salemnews.com.
x x x x
Reporter Cate Lecuyer has found at least one four-leaf clover every summer since she came across her first one as a child.
Deborah Parker / The Salem (Mass.) News
Posted via web from fourleafclovergoodluckcharms's posterous
