Gratitude# 74

                                                   Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I don't consider myself a lucky person- but when I think about it I really am. Just by sheer luck I was born- and incredibly lucky to be born in the USA - I could have been born anywhere! I met my husband and had my two  children. I love my home, my family, my friends,  my job, I have a sweet little dog that I adore. These are all things that are lucky!
There is also the kind of luck when things don't happen- like the tree that fell away from the house, the accident that didn't happen....
I think the luckiest thing that happened to me was bumping into my best friend from art school, Carol Acquilano, on a crowded street in Italy outside of the Accedemia in Florence, Italy, in 1985 . She just happened to turn around and there I was- on my way to find a bus to a hill town to draw that day.I would never have noticed her- she's a beautiful Italian girl and blended right in to the crush of people. We just stood there staring for what seemed like forever and then whoop-whooped!  I was on a 7 month adventure by myself in Europe, she was an artist- in -residence with the University of Athens, Georgia (they have campus in Cortona) and she was on a day trip to Florence. We spent the next couple of months or so together - in Florence, and Corona painting and playing, and we met up again later in London. We had lost touch for 4 years prior- it was a magical moment  and we have remained close ever since. Those kinds of things are reminders that maybe there's something bigger than us orchestrating  things - I really don't know- but it is so exciting and wonderful when those things happen!
If you have a story of luck or coincidence and want to share it with me I would love it- and will put it up on my blog. If you listen to "This American Life" on podcast there's one called coincidences- check it out!