See A Penny, Pick It Up.

I will always pick a penny up when I see it because let’s face it, who doesn’t want good luck.  This act has, however, has resulted in pennies randomly scattered in pockets, the washing machine and all over my house.  I would pick pennies up even when I was a little girl.  I taught my kids the rhyme “see a penny pick it up, all day you’ll have good luck”.  When Raymond got older, he would say, “Only if it’s heads up mom!” and he’d make me drop the penny.  What he didn’t know was that I would secretly pick that penny back up when he walked away.  One time when I was about ten, I found a $20.00 bill on the ground, and I was certain it was the accumulation of luck from all the pennies I had picked up.

When we were walking into the movie theater last weekend, there was a penny in the parking lot.   As I instinctively bent down to pick it up for the first time, I thought to myself, will this penny really bring me good luck?  By the time I was sitting in my seat, I knew it wouldn’t, but it made me happy.  Happiness is always the feeling I get when I pick up a penny, and it got me wondering whether or not you are more likely to have luck when you’re happy.  Maybe you are more open to receiving the good things in life when you are happy.

Whenever I watch a news story where they talk about discontinuing the penny, it makes me sad.  I suppose I understand why, but it makes me sad nonetheless.  Will there come a time when there will be no more pennies to pick up, will there be no more days of good luck?  No, of course not, there will be days of good luck because the penny does not automatically create good luck, even if it’s heads up. Luck by definition is the result of chance, which is exactly what is when you find a penny, pure chance.

Things that happen by chance are the purest experiences and make me the happiest. It’s like all the good Karma I selflessly threw out into the universe coming back to me and rewards me with that warm, happy feeling inside that automatically bring a smile to my face. I dare you to pick up a penny on the street and NOT smile. You won’t be able to do it. It brings out the child in all of us, if even for a split second. In the world today, who doesn’t want that childlike happiness with abandonment, smiling because the smallest thing made you happy, unexpected happiness, pure happiness? Pick up those pennies, heads or tails and smile and maybe think of me for a minute smiling at you!