Lucky Charms

2012 is zooming along- it’s already March! The month that you can’t help but relate to the color green, St. Patrick’s Day, four-leaf clovers and lucky charms. Apart from that sugar-filled cereal I used to eat as a child, I got to thinking about actual good luck charms.  Do you believe in good luck charms?

A few years ago, I received a gift from an old friend, a gold necklace with a St. Christopher medallion. For many, St. Christopher is recognized as the patron saint of traveling. Considering how often I traveled and worked on the road, I kept my “lucky charm” on at all times. Sometimes when getting on the freeway or about to take off on a plane, I’d rub the gold medallion and send up a silent prayer for safety. I’m not a very superstitious person, but I think for me, it brought comfort. Maybe it was a bit of a security blanket more than an actual good luck charm. I will admit I don’t think the medallion I used to wear almost daily brought me any particular sort of luck, but I certainly felt a little better, a little safer and a little less lonely when I’d wear it.

The idea got me wondering (as I write this from 10,000 feet in the air): What do other people carry as their good luck charms on the road? I started looking at travelers and thinking about what they might be carrying as their security blanket, their little piece of home. Maybe a picture of their family they always hold in their wallet? A piece of jewelry from a loved one?  I know some fellow road warriors who always bring their own pillowcase, just to have a familiar scent to go to bed with as they lay to rest in another hotel room. During my own little “Eat, Pray, Love” 6-month sabbatical overseas, I  carried a mini scrapbook made by my family and friends, full of pictures and letters of love and good luck wishes.

I think good fortune is a matter of recognizing and appreciating little gifts as they come along. It could be the pub down the street you happened to find as you got lost looking for your hotel. Or the world’s most amazing scones you wouldn’t have discovered had you not decided to toss the well-planned city tour guide map away for once.  Maybe a nearly hidden winery you stumbled upon just from taking a different way home. You don’t necessarily need a charm of sorts to bring good luck with you on your travels or adventures, but merely an open, “good luck” sort of attitude.  Make room for the good stuff and the good stuff will find you!

However, should you come across one of those days when being away from home can begin to get tough and trips start to feel a little too long, it doesn’t hurt to carry a little good luck charm to help you through.

Do you carry a special good luck charm whenever you’re away from home? What kind of good fortune have you discovered during your travels recently?