Everywhere my mother went, all she had to do was look down and there was a four leaf clover. Our dictionary was full of them and we couldn’t look up the meaning of anything without one fluttering to the floor. That was long before you could find everything you needed to know on the Internet and kids still knew who Webster was.

I was desperate to find a four leaf clover. Mom made it look so easy but I could be hunched up over the grass for a half hour at a time with nothing to show but sore muscles. What was I doing wrong? It couldn’t be this difficult to find a four leaf clover. After all, they popped up all over the place for mom. As soon as she bent over I knew she would come up with a four leaf clover in her hand. I was starting to think she knew some leprechauns on a first name basis…just kidding mom.

When I asked her how she did it she would always answer, “I don’t know, I just look down and there they are. I really don’t look for them.” It really was amazing and I didn’t believe her story for a minute. I was convinced that she scoured the ground to find them like everyone else when we had our backs turned! Who was she kidding, how could you find them if you didn’t look?

My mom has since passed away and for a long time I didn’t think about four leaf clovers. Her lifetime stash is still kept in that Webster’s Dictionary and one of my sisters has it as a treasured reminder of mom. Poor Webster, that dictionary will surely never be used for what it was intended.

I gave up my quest for finding my own four leaf clover and then the strangest thing happened; I found my very first one! I wasn’t even looking for it at all. I guess mom wasn’t making up that story after all. I finally found a four leaf clover when I stopped looking for them.

Since I found that first one, I have found so many four leaf clovers that I’ve lost count. I’ve even found several five leaf clovers…no kidding! I press each one between the pages of a book while they’re still fresh. If you don’t press them as soon as you find them then they wilt and shrivel up to nothing. Unlike my mom, I don’t keep them in a dictionary. I keep them in any book that is handy at the time. I love being surprised when I turn the pages of a book and a four leaf clover comes fluttering out. They are a constant, comforting reminder of my mom.

Now my kids ask me the question, “Mom, how do you find so many four leaf clovers?”. Of course, I had to have a little fun with them at first and try to pass off some outlandish tale of magic and powers and such, but in the end I told them the truth. “You can find them too. You find them when you’re not looking for them.”