Are you lucky?

Are you lucky? When you enter a contest, a drawing, or a sweepstake, do you ever win? Have you ever won? I did, once upon a time — half a century ago. I won a small Dutch doll from Aruba, dressed in costume, including carved wooden shoes. I forget who sponsored the contest and what the requirement was, but remember weeks of “work,” juggling ideas and words before sending my entry in.

I have little of what people call ”luck.” Anything I get, I must work for, whether physically or mentally

Rewards come very hard. I stay busy as wife, mother and house-keeper, chief cook, bottle washer, gardener, canner, milkmaid, baker, butcher, farm wife and help wherever it is needed. I even took the scythe and cut hay. I reshod my horse once when it was needed. Unladylike, yes, but work must be done.

Since winning a drawing or a sweepstakes always skips me by, I thought I’d expand our chances by signing up my husband, George. Then, one night when I got home from work, he asked, “Did you sign me up for a free turkey at XYZ Market?”

“Yep. Why?”

He grinned, “I got a phone call saying come get my turkey.

I was surprised and we both were delighted.

At fair time there are a number of drawings, and I usually sign us up for whatever freebee is offered, though without much real expectation of winning. We moved, bought a small ranch in Oregon, some cows, and used the AI service for calves. After reading about the high quality of bison hybrid beef, we had a cow bred to a Simmalo and wanted more. At the AI booth at the fair George won. We had another Simmalo calf.

Another time I put our names into a hardware store drawing. This time he won two gallons of top-quality paint.

Am I jinxed?