How Lucky am I?

How Lucky am I?

Lisa Daily

This morning, I’m thinking about being lucky.

A friend of mine, the soon-to-be-published Abby Wittnebert said something to me a while back. We were talking about publishing and luck and taking chances, and how bravery frequently pays off.

We were sharing stories, and I told her that it was part of me to take chances, to try to accomplish the things that were in my heart, even if statistics were against me. I always think, even if the chances are one in a million, somebody’s gonna get the big prize/book contract/coffee date with Oprah, it might as well be me. The great thing about it is, I’m lucky a lot. Great things happen to me on a regular basis, and I am both immensely thankful for them, and certain that I have some power steering in the control of my destiny.

“You have to be brave to be so lucky,” Abby said.

I thought about that, and told her about my mom — a person who never uttered the words “most writers can’t make a living” or, the most crushing piece of parental advice ever given, “You should have a back up plan in case (insert dream here) doesn’t work out.”

My mom told me I’d make a great writer. She told me to “go for it” , whatever “it” was. She told me to speak up when I had something important to say. She told me not to learn to type (there was a feminist plan in action here, which served its purpose on my first job, but sadly backfired a bit, as I am now a writer who can barely type.) She told me it was a waste of my talent and life if I didn’t try for the things that set my soul on fire.

“You’re lucky to be so brave,” Abby told me.

And she’s right. I am lucky. It was my mother who gave me the bravery that enabled me to follow my dreams. I spent many years of my early life wondering why some people were afraid to do the thing their heart wanted them to do, to take the chance to get the relationship, the job or the life they really wanted. And I never really understood it, until I was older.

I am lucky to be so brave. I was given wings as a child, when many children end up with their feet and their hopes stuck in cement. They have to break free, and sometimes that takes a very long time. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen at all, and those adults who were once saddled with cement shoes, are never quite able to step out of them.

I am lucky to be so brave. I am lucky to be who I am, to have the family I do, to have the opportunities I have, and to feel empowered to create the opportunities that aren’t immediately before me.

I hope you’re as lucky as I’ve been.

And I hope that we can all give the extraordinary gift of bravery to our own children.

Happy Mother's Day

Lisa

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Comments

[Nancy Martin]

Great Mother's Day blog! Thank you, Lisa.

I am very lucky, too. The luck kind, not just the brave kind. I win things all the time. I'm afraid to play the lottery, though, for fear it will spoil my karma. I am content to win little things and don't aspire to win millions. So far, so good.

Off to spend Mother's Day with my mother!

[Harley]

Lisa, I had the same Mom. She was the ultimate, "Go for it, honey" voice, for me and all 7 of my siblings. We all miss her.

And I get to spend Mother's Day with my kids. How lucky am I?

[Laura (in PA)]

Lisa, you're pushing my buttons this weekend! Great blog again.

I'm not too good at being brave. I am better at being lucky. I win a few things here and there, just enough to make me keep trying.

It's a gloriously beautiful day here. I hope to have a wonderful Mother's Day, which will include marching my daughter around the nearby outlets in search of a job.

Love to all of you.

[Kathy Sweeney]

Happy Mother's Day - and you don't have to have any biological connection to mother someone.

Another great blog Lisa!

[Tom`]

Happy Mother's Day, all y'all. It's a tough job. You deserve more recognition than you get.

[Lisa Daily]

Hi all,

Happy Mother's Day and thank you for the wonderful comments.

Nancy,

Here's to your continued good luck :-)

Harley,

That's so great to hear. There is a sweetness about you that can be felt from across the room.

Your kids are just as lucky as you are...

Laura,

I'm so glad -- good to have our buttons pushed sometimes, right?

Enjoy your day with your daughter!!

Kathy,

I think you're absolutely right about that! Thanks so much!

Tom,

thanks :-)

It's a FABULOUS sunny day today, and I'm off to take a dip in the pool with my kids. Another reason I feel lucky every day.

XO,

Lisa

[Maryann Mercer]

Good post :o) My own mom was one who taught me tolerance and patience and a sense of fair play...all very important to her. I've tried to pass that on to my own daughter, along with the ability to stand up for herself. I count myself lucky to have had my mom for the little time I did, and my one regret is that she never got to meet her amazing granddaughter. Happy Mothers' Day all :o) (We're off to a steak dinner...and then Wallender on PBS)

[Lisa Daily]

Maryann,

What a wonderful legacy to pass on to your own daughter.

Have a fantastic Mother's Day!

Lisa

[xena]

Soooo....checking in late as I did The Sound of Music last night for our church's Mother/Daughter Banquet.
Either I'm getting easier to please or the kids are getting better but it was thee most non stress-full show yet.
First I edit the pieces out of the script. I call it the "readers digest version" of whatever we're doing. This year I cut out the Nazis and the Baroness totally. Makes for a less political play. And mostly the kids sang (there are such great songs) and well yes the lead put the words on the speaker next to her on the cardboard alps for the opening song and drawings on the table for My Favorite Things but it was cute as a button.
So today is a kind of stay at home with my mom dinner and load out day for the play. My son did call altho' he messed up the flower thingie I mailed him from FTD. I'll forgive him when he arrives May 16th.
Time to get all the costumes out of the living area and fire hose down his room.
I just close the door when he leaves and open it up like Great Expectations when he is coming back.
Lucky? Lisa you were lucky. My parents and grandparents had the same go for it attitude. I am what I am today because of their support.
An out of work artistic creative dancer singer actress choreographer costumer.
I'm sitting in the city manager's secretary's office until they hire me to teach something for summer camp tomorrow!!!
And you are correct in saying that people have the mothering skill without giving birth. Those children will be loved and nurtured as if they have been born to those moms.
Bless everyone who is a mom and give a kiss to your mom if she is still around.
They are the best!
Just saying.

[Laraine]

Happy M-D to everyone.
Saw Harley 'on stage' yesterday at the Literary Guild of Orange County's annual spring gathering, and she was (no surprise) terrific. Also had the pleasure of a quick word with her here and there through the day, which totally confirmed my longtime impression of Harley as a sweet, generous soul. Lucky kids, indeed.

[Karen in Ohio]

Lisa, I love your blog today, and your attitude of gratitude. That's so important, to recognize the various forces that make you what you are.

I'm grateful to my mother for an entirely different reason: She did not truly "mother" me, other than to forbid me to do stuff, or to command me to do other stuff. But from that upbringing, I learned to mother myself, and to allow my own daughters to shine, to encourage them the way your mother did. If I had not grown up the way I did I'm sure there would have been totally different outcomes from my experiences in motherhood.

I'm feeling expansive about this today, because we just returned from a 1300-mile trip to see our youngest walk with her class of 425, only 28 of which were women. All the way home today, my husband and I talked about raising our kids, and the mistakes and successes we made of that enterprise. And now, more than 38 years after my first child was born, I'm officially no longer raising anyone. Wow. Now it's time for me to take the advice of Lisa's blog of yesterday. Thank you!

And Happy Mothers' Day to you all, moms of human and/or animal children.