It was an ordinary day. Walking through a field on our way to one of my grandson's little league baseball games. My wife is lagging behind, looking for a four-leaf clover to give our grandson for good luck before the game begins. Before long she stops, reaches down and pulls a four-leaf clover from the ground. I just have no idea how she can do that! I have never found one in my entire life and here she is, walking a few feet behind me, and she spots one. Not fair!! On other occasions when we take a walk, she will walk close to the edge of the path in hopes of finding a four-leaf clover. Never fails, she comes up with one in a few minutes. Takes them home, wraps them in Saran wrap, and sticks them in our grandson's back pocket when we see him the next time. Does it help? Who knows? I guess if he gets a good hit or strikes out a batch of opposing players, it must have been the four-leaf clover. So what are the odds of one finding a four-leaf clover? Seems to be different for everyone, but for most people, myself included, it is 10,000 to 1 that you will find a four-leaf clover. And, the odds are 1,000,000 to 1 that you will find a five-leaf clover. Geeze, I didn't even know there were five-leaf clovers. And, there are actually six-leaf clovers!! Just to put this all in perspective, if you flip a coin, the odds are 2 to 1 that it will be heads. So 10,000 to 1 is very high odds. But, for my wife, her odds are ????? Well, I guess you know by now that the reason I am telling you all of these statistics is that today is four-leaf clover day, commonly known as St. Patrick's Day. The four-leaf clover first appeared in centuries-old Druid legends as symbols of good luck. In the very early days of Ireland, Celtic priests believed that when carrying a three-leaf clover or shamrock, they could detect evil spirits and be able to escape before encountering one. Four-leaf clovers were magical Celtic charms and would ward off bad luck. It's often said that Ireland grows more four-leaf clovers than anywhere else in the world, leading the the expression "luck of the Irish." Children in the Middle Ages believed they would be able to see fairies if they carried a four-leaf clover. And, did you know that the four-leaves of the clover stand for faith, hope, love and luck. The plant is really the Trifolium repens, or white clover. A few other facts are: the word shamrock comes from the Irish word seamrog, which means "little clover"; if you pass along a four-leaf clover to your ... say grandson ... your luck will double; and Abraham Lincoln always carried his lucky four-leaf clover in his pocket ... except for that fateful night when he left it at home. So, on this St. Patrick's Day, take a walk and see how lucky you may be in finding a four-leaf clover. That is if you're not inundated with a few inches of snow as I am today. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - check out this YouTube video showing someone finding four-leaf and five-leaf clovers as if he were picking up grains of sand on a beach.
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