My Bad Luck with 4 Leaf Clovers

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. That means you’ll see imagery of clovers everywhere, especially four leaf clovers. They say that finding one is good luck, and only one in ten thousand clovers have four leaves. But I never found one…and it must be because of bad luck…or maybe the clovers are bad luck for me specifically.

When I was a kid, we had a patch of clovers in our yard. Everyday, I’d go out and I’d look for a four leaf clover. No matter how hard I tried, I never could find one. Then one day my friend Allison came over to play. She was the most popular girl in school. She literally had a box of love letters in her room from boys professing their undying love for her, begging her to be their girlfriend. This was elementary school for gosh sakes! I didn’t have one love letter. Oh well. Anyway…back to the story! So Allison came over and we decided to go look for four leaf clovers. Back in those days we didn’t have smart phones so we actually had to go out and do stuff. Almost immediately after we started looking, she found one! A four leaf clover! Day after day I had tried, and immediately my perfect and prettiest friend found one the first time she looked. Well of course she did! That was her luck.

She ran into the house beaming at how she had found a four leaf clover, her brown eyes sparkling. My mother congratulated her and told her she should put it in a book to press it and preserve it. Now Allison would have good luck forever. It just wasn’t fair! The clover was in my yard! But now it was hers.

Years later after I grew up, I still hadn’t found a four leaf clover. But I was shopping at the mall and found a pretty four leaf clover necklace with matching earrings. If I couldn’t find a real four leaf clover, I could at least buy fake four leaf clovers! I bought it and proudly wore it. Soon after I went on a road trip wearing the jewelry, and was barely going over the speed limit. Of course I was stopped and given a ticket! I figured it had to be the fault of the four leaf clover. I had never found a real one, so they must just mean bad luck for me. I never wore that jewelry again!

Now years after that, I had kids. My toddler son went out with his shoes off to get in the car, and I carried his shoes in my hand to put them on after I buckled him into the car seat. He ran through the wet grass and over a patch of clovers in our front yard and then climbed up into the car. I went to put his shoes on, and what do you think was stuck to the bottom of his foot? That’s right! A four leaf clover! He didn’t even have to look for it! He just had to run through the wet yard and get one that way! It was like the four leaf clover was laughing at me, letting me know that everyone else could effortlessly find one, but never me.

Now another St. Patrick’s Day is here. I am not bitter. I am happy for everyone who finds a four leaf clover. But if you are not wearing green I will happily pinch you.