It's been 1 month: Slainte

We left Chicago on March 17th, and somewhere between Chicago and Houston I realized that I wasn't wearing any green. Immediately following that realization was gratitude that no one had tried to pinch me. Yes, I know I'm a 30-something mother and was en route to South America, not a small child en route to recess. Please recall that I had yet to sleep after days of sorting/packing/tossing/cleaning out our apartment. I was hanging on by a very thin, and hopefully green, thread.

In our own teetotaling way, I've made sure we celebrated St. Patty's Day each year. I don't have these freckles for nothing. In fact, we are all of Irish decent in our little family (though we also claim Scottish - I believe I'm both, but let's just say we're of the Gaels - throughout history people were moving all over those isles anyway). Half-O's name is Irish (Gaelic), plus she's got green eyes, a red tint to her hair, and thanks to the Lima sun, she's sporting a couple new freckles herself. But we didn't get a chance to do anything this year - not even wear green.

Then a week or so later I found this in our backyard:


Awesome, huh?! It's an honest to goodness 4-leaf clover (I promise it is not the kind I manufactured as a child by pulling apart one of the 3 leaves of a standard clover).

I was actually pretty nonchalant about my find. Half-O was the only one around, and she just discovered clovers in general, so is stoked on any leaf quantity. I assumed the good luck was meant for The Archaeologist's project and set it on a shelf in his office. Later that evening, though, I showed him and his Irish eyes were amazed. I guess I didn't realize how rare they are. I just looked down and saw it. I wonder if that's what it's like to be born into wealth - it's hard to appreciate the rarity - or perhaps it's an object lesson for grace vs. works. Anyway, thanks to Wikipedia, I now appreciate my 1 in 10,000 find.

I'm not familiar with the luck rules for 4-leaf clovers (Is it only good for one venture? Is there a time limit? Does it need to be on my person to bestow the luck? Can it extend to The Archaeologist even though I found it? It seems like immediate family would be covered), but we've been here for a month now and we've got a great little house, we've yet to get any food/water-born illnesses, I've yet to get seriously lost or be too seriously encumbered by my Spanish deficiencies, the weather has been great, there was a special when we got high-speed internet so the router was free, there's a radio station that plays 80s music all day long (from the U.S./U.K. - but a disproportionate number of songs from The Police/Sting), Half-O is happy, The Archaeologist is getting accolades left and right, and I have yet to burn myself even though I've lit an entire box of matches for the stove. So we truly appreciate the luck of the Irish and hope it continues.

Also, an update: I found ginger. It's called jengibre, and it was in the aisle with the baking stuff (e.g. cake mixes, yeast, vanilla extract). Additionally, I may have to devote an entire post to me and electricity - it's been like a non-montage version of discovering/developing a super power.