I’ve never considered myself especially lucky. I don’t win contests, though occasionally I do come in second or third. (Most recently, I was a runner-up for the Sharp Writ Book awards in the category of science fiction for my novel Light Bringer.) In group gift exchanges, I always get the gift that no one quite seems to be able to identify or figure out what it does. I seldom win a door prize, and I’ve never won a raffle of any kind.
Today I attended a fundraiser wit
h friends. There were a couple of dozen gift baskets being raffled, and we got to choose which basket(s) we would like to win. I found one basket that only one other person had chosen, so I used all of my raffle tickets for that basket, thinking to up the odds. When I didn’t win, I laughed with my friend about my bad luck, but then on the way home I reconsidered.
Bad luck?
I’d driven to the event center in a 42-year-old car that still runs well, spent the day with good friends and other congenial people, shared smiles and laughter, ate a nice lunch, danced a bit, enjoyed playing with the raffle tickets, and on top of all that, got to help support a good cause.
Seems to me as if I’m very lucky!
***
Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+. Like Pat on Facebook.
Bertram's Blog 
April 26, 2014 at 9:19 pm
Seems a lot of the time that luck is in the eyes of the beholder. And sometimes what’ s lucky for one person is lucky for another. It’s all a matter of perspective.
April 27, 2014 at 2:55 am
There is always another way to look at things. I play the UK National Lottery. Whenever I bemoan the fact that I’ve not won the jackpot yet, I stop and think that I’m actually contributing towards good causes, not to mention helping others to win big prizes!
April 27, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Yes! Look on the bright side. Even if you did lose the raffle.
April 27, 2014 at 3:53 pm
Actually, losing the raffle was winning, too. What the heck do I need with any of that stuff?