GETTING LUCKY

Lucky me.  Last night, we went to Islands restaurant for dinner with two other couples.  We've been there so many times I couldn't even estimate - it's close to home, inexpensive, and decent food. While we were sitting in our booth, the manager stood up on a chair and announced that, since the restaurant was celebrating it's 9th anniversary, everyone in the restaurant at that moment would get all of their food on the house.  Lucky us!  We of course ordered way more than we normally would have- appetizers, salads, desserts...we were all so excited that we had gotten so lucky!  Free dinner?  What a great surprise.


But then, I started to wonder...was this it?  Is this my lucky day?  Does winning this free meal mean I've used up my lucky points with the universe?  We debated this a little.  Should we run out and buy lottery tickets, because our luck was on an upswing?  Or did this mean that our luck had peaked, and this was, as Helen Hunt said in her Oscar winning movie, "As good as it gets"?  Does luck come in threes, as one person suggested?  Or are some people just inherently lucky?


I don't think I'm a particularly lucky person.  I don't win raffles, or the lotto, and over the years on my trips to Las Vegas I've only won big a few times, including $1600 on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine.  I don't believe in lucky charms, or lucky days, or lucky numbers, though I do have a few superstitions.


But in thinking further about being lucky, I have to believe that, trite as it may sound, we often make our own luck.  Meeting different people, going to new places, connecting with Twitter or Facebook friends, all of those things open us up to new experiences, broaden our perspective, and give us opportunities for good things to happen.  Expanding our worlds is the best way to increase our chances of luck finding us. 


We paid it forward, and left our waitress an absurdly large tip...making it her lucky day too.  That felt really, really good.


Lucky me?  I'd have to say yes.  With family I love, and friends to go to dinner with on a Thursday night, there's not much more I could ask for.  Knock on wood!