odds

While I was out running on my favorite trail this morning I found a four leaf clover.  I was running up a long hill and at the top I stopped to take in the view (and catch my breath).  I guess I looked down, and there it was.  This is the second four leaf clover I have found in two weeks and the third since June.  I find them often -- always have, though I am never intentionally looking for them.  They just seem to jump out at me.   

What are the odds of finding a four leaf clover?  Informal research suggests that the ratio of four leaf clover to three leaf clover is approximately 1:10,000.  So what are the odds of finding three in less than two months?  Why do they reveal themselves to me with a frequency that even I would not bet on?

A few weeks ago, while we were running errands in preparation for our trip out west, Will called out from the back seat of the car, “Mom, I found a quarter and guess what state it is ... South Dakota.”  The next morning I was clearing some clutter from the top of my dresser and I picked up two quarters.  I don’t know what made me look at them but I did turn them over and don’t you know they were Montana and Wyoming.  These were the three major western states we planned to explore.  

I am divided in my appraisal of these events because they happen often in my life.  The pragmatist in me dismisses them as interesting coincidence -- but my inner mystic lives for this.  I save fortunes from cookies and tape horoscopes to the refrigerator.  I am always looking for the connection I have with each person I meet.  I want to believe that there are no accidents -- that every event is connected and carries weight and meaning, potential and bearing.  And I do.  So much of my life has unfolded as a result of these strange “coincidences.”

If I went out looking for four leaf clovers I know that I would quickly grow frustrated and bored and likely give up, but there must be something within us that is always subconsciously seeking and finding.  Serendipity, by its very nature can neither be summoned, nor forced.  Instead it requires a sort of attentive wandering.  There is much to distract and it’s easy to miss the signs.  I wonder about luck but I think that the luck in finding the clover is not in what its possession may yield so much as it is in being able to see it as you move through the field.  

Some photos from South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming...