My eyelids felt heavy as I fought to look outside my bedroom window. Drops of rain ran down the windowpane and gray mist pressed up against the glass.
I speculate that some Bellingham residents looked outside this morning and instantly decided it was going to be a bad day because of the dark and rainy sky. They may have even blamed the weather on bad luck.
But from the moment I looked outside I decided otherwise.
"Have a good day," my roommate said as she rushed out the door. "Oh, I will!" I thought to myself. "I will have a great day filled with good luck."
Before I left for school at 8:45 a.m., I had slept past my alarm, burnt my bacon and dropped my toothbrush behind the toilet.
As I unlocked my bike from our stairs I noticed a hole in the plastic grocery bag I had wrapped around the seat in an attempt to keep it dry. My bike seat was damp. It didn't faze me. My jeans would dry by the end of my first class, no big deal.
I took the shortcut through the woods. Mud puddles sprayed my back as my wheels rolled over the dirt path carpeted with yellow leaves and tree roots. The raindrops felt like pin pricks on my face as I squinted to see where I was riding.
"I love fall weather," I thought to myself as I locked up my bike and ran into the bathroom to clean the mud off my jacket.
I made it to class on the first floor of the Communications Facility on time.
After class I trudged up the stairs to the rhythm of dozens of wet shoes squeaking on the cement floor and visited Carol Brach's office.
Since I do not yet have a Western grade-point average I cannot be in the school system as a pre-major so I was concerned about getting the classes I wanted for next quarter.
"Let me check my list," Brach said as she scrolled down the list of names on her computer screen. "You are in for the reporting class!"
That was lucky.
Relieved, I hurried out of her office and almost ran into Professor Pilgrim. "How are you doing?" I asked as we walked out into the hall.
"I am doing very well," he said. "Just trying to prepare for class."
"Well, good luck!" I replied.
On my quest to find a computer lab, I walked around the puddles on the red bricks outside as I contemplated the idea of luck.
A while ago I read about this idea that if you see yourself as being lucky it is possible to have a good day even in the worst circumstances. If you think positively and look for good luck you will find it. If you are negative and look for bad luck you will find that as well.
I have been trying to test that idea.
I walked up three flights of wet stairs without falling on my face. That was lucky.
When I walked into the computer lab I heard the clatter of fingers on keyboards and saw heads hovering above every computer screen. Just as I was about to leave someone got up and left. That was lucky.
On a typical day, when you burn your breakfast, trip over your own feet or show up late to class soaked with rain, you can still find luck in the little things.
Written for News Writing Class
October 12, 2010
