Lots of Love and Luck

When going through my grandparent’s house after they had both passed away, my family found a letter my grandmother wrote to my grandfather many years ago. My grandmother ended the letter with the phrase, Lots of Love and Luck. At the time she wrote the letter, she had 4 children under the age of 5, my grandfather was away for a period of time, and she was wishing him Luck 🙂

Since reading my grandmother’s words, I reflected on them often. I have noticed so many times in my life where Love and Luck were present.

I write this 20 years after I was in a serious rollover car accident. I was 16, it was mid-day and I was driving home from working cows that morning because I had to go to my part-time job at the local video rental store (yes those were a thing then) that evening.

My brain has decided to protect me from the memory so I don’t know exactly what happened that day. I was left with a compound fracture of my left elbow, 5 broken vertebrae in my back, several bruised internal organs and lots of cuts and scrapes.

I will deal with pain and other issues with my back for the rest of my life, but I am immeasurably Lucky. I have nearly full use of my arm, I wasn’t paralyzed from the rib cage down and of course, I’m alive. So much could have happened that these things wouldn’t be true.

I was Lucky to have an incredible team of doctors and physical therapists to put me back together and make me fight through the pain to ensure a normal, active life.

I was (and am) Lucky to be Loved. I have parents that supported me through the hospital stay and surgeries and Loved me enough to push me hard in recovery. We were surrounded by extended family that helped my parents and brother while I was in the hospital, and after. We had friends that came to visit and helped take my mind off what happened.

I am forever appreciative of the Love I was shown and the Luck I had on that day.  

I think, even in our professional lives Love and Luck play a role. I don’t mean luck in the sense that people are Lucky to get promotions or find success. Almost always that comes from a lot of hard-work. I mean Luck in the sense of working at an organization that you like or in an industry that aligns with your values and provides a good life for you and your family. Love is to be surrounded by the family you were born into, or that you chose or both. Those people that support you and your goals and work to build you up and cheer for your success.

In the words of my grandmother, I wish you Lots of Love and Luck!