So tell me kid,...are ya' feelin lucky?

 

There are times in my life in which I feel twice blessed. I mean, everyday, I can honestly say, that I love my life.The crisis are minimal, the company incredible and the view from where I sit is lovely. I have family and friends who I adore and who I think, like me pretty well just the way I am. I have travelled to places I have dreamed of and done some of the things on my 'bucket list' which make me want to pinch myself to know if they were really real. But like I said, there are times when I know that someone or something has shone a light on me and given me days where I am walking a foot above the ground. Some call it luck....I'm not sure if I would call it that, although I do like the sound of it....Is luck just being in the right place at the right time? Or does it mean being in the right frame of mind? I can't quite put my finger on why it feels the way it feels when things fall into place and make your life that much better. Not for just that moment, although these happenings are monumental too, but for days and weeks and sometimes years on end.

One such incident happened when I was about 25 years old. I was a widow with  a 7 year old daughter, trying to make ends meet as a landscaper after completing a horticulture course in college. The work was hard, the hours long and the pay was shite but, you do what you have to right? By chance I saw an add in the paper for a 'horticulture technician' with the Department of National Defense and thought "what's to lose?". So off I go to the interview with papers in hand and my love for gardening as my credentials. Well lo and behold I got the job! It wasn't until months later that I discovered an odd twist to the scenario. You see, my biological father was in the Navy, stationed in Victoria (where the gardening job was) when on a routine trip to Singapore, he slipped and fell into a drainage ditch, hit his head and died a few days later there. I was 3 years old and my mom had 2 other children older than me at home. Anyway, I was doing some weeding near the Admirals house one day, and got to talking with an older man in the Navy. We talked about travel and life and the subject of his trip to Singapore, years ago, came up. Turns out he was on the same ship as my father (John) and remembered him quite well. He remembered the day John died and how devastating it was for all on board. I went home that night thinking that maybe John  was somewhere, somehow, out there, lending me a hand ...it was an excellent paying job and helped me to get on my feet after years of crappy jobs and welfare.

 Landing a job by chance with Canada Post years later, was another bit of good luck for it was how I met my husband. I delivered the mail to his buisness for 2 years before we had a restructure where all the routes were changed and I lost that route...luckily I thought to leave him a little message in his mail on the last day with my phone number and, well 12 years later here we are, in our little slice of this beautiful world.

 The chance to make a pilgrimage to Ireland came by chance because of my daughter living in Dublin. Of course my dad (who has always been my da and raised me from the age of 4), was the one to make the trip with me. It has been a year in April since our voyage and the journey is embedded into my heart and soul. Not a day goes that I'm not reminded of those times and how deep it changed me in ways I can't explain. Suffice it to say that I will go back one day, hopefully to stay for a while. The place, the people, the light, the feel are in me to stay.
 Of course there are a multitude of life altering moments in my life in which I feel changed me forever. My daughters birth is first and foremost, as I'm sure most parents would say about the birth of their own, but its these 'chance' offerings that elate me and make me feel truley blessed at times...and so I feel that somewhere, somehow there's some kind of crazy light out there shining on me.

Happy St.Patricks Day, one and all...