A stroke of luck

My partner is a jammy bugger. He’s forever finding money in the street. And not small change, no, this guy found £10 in a park at midnight as we cycled home together from the pub in the dark. He found £20 in the gutter on a trip into town. Then he found £80 in a beautiful tight roll of tenners on a windswept beach during his 6am run. (He’s hard to like, my partner!)

Of course me, I never find any cash. At all. The other day, whilst out on a jog, my eye caught a 5p piece on the pavement. I ran on past, 5p isn’t enough to break my stride. Then something turned me back to retrieve the coin anyway. Who am I to live without acknowledging and being grateful for my luck in life, however big or small?

I ran on, and around the next corner, a bird poo splatted on the floor just one step on front of where my trainer was about to land. Phew, a close shave! Another lucky break.

And then the hat-trick. On the final furlong of my run, and somewhat puce and breathless, I ran past the last bus stop on my route. A man, sat in the bus shelter with his can of Red Stripe, looked up at me with a swollen black eye and urged ‘go on lerve!’. Generous encouragement in a beautiful deep Cardiff voice.

Three strokes of luck in an hour. How lucky I am.

Perhaps we might all include ourselves amongst the lucky folk, and with this hopeful idea of ourselves, we might go on searching and keeping an eye out for our good luck. It might not always be the wad of cash that someone else has found, but those 5p pieces add up too, and in valuing these small gifts, we remind ourselves that lady luck is in touch with us and we all deserve her acquaintance.

At MyST, we try to work in ways that transmit this kind of hopeful outlook to children. And if children haven’t yet been lucky enough to feel wholly loved themselves, we try to create as many ‘strokes of luck’ to touch them as we can. Because although we all deserve it, it is lucky to be loved, and only bad luck to not yet have experienced it. No need to worry that we are undeserving or not a chosen one. No need to give up on the possibility of good luck just around the corner.

Jen & Jael