Jessa sent me a penny on Friday, August 13th. I somehow lost my notes and now that I’ve found them it’s almost Thanksgiving, an appropriate time to finish up this little exercise, since I think feeling lucky is akin to feeling gratitude.

And that’s what this penny project was for me, a reminder to feel gratitude. That penny was not the Ray Bradbury butterfly; it was nothing in and of itself. It was a bit of metal in my pocket; it was a string around my finger to remind me. In other words, the penny didn’t bring me luck, but it reminded me of luck. It reminded me of chance and of mystery in the world, and being open to appreciating it all. It reminded me to let good things happen, and how one good thing propagates another.

I feel lucky for a million things: amazing parents, family, and friends. Little things to enjoy, too: all the artists who make great music, and being able to afford an iPod so I can hold all that art in my hand at once; good coffee in the morning; tomatoes in my garden; new job I like; being at the gym and pushing my body; the cats that come to me when I go for a walk in the night air. And I feel hugely lucky for the freedom I feel.

Paige often tells me that everything happens for a reason. I like for her to tell me this. My interpretation is not that I can deny any responsibility or power over circumstances. Rather, I think that whatever happened didn’t have to happen; it wasn’t fated to be that way; it could have gone differently. But it did happen, and so I try to learn my lessons from it. I acknowledge, I analyze—think and feel. I ask myself: how will you make it go next time? Can you change? How much control do we have over ourselves and our lives?

I feel lucky to have found love not once, but twice. The first taught me the power of luck & of being open. I glimpsed the genius of love & knew that I wanted to make love central in my life. My first love taught me that love could die or you could add to luck those important elements of being grateful, being conscious of it, & working at it; taught me that maybe you could nurture love, everyday, & keep it alive. I learned these things and then opened my heart, and luckily, Drew opened his heart too. He is my great love, my daily, lucky, vital love. We keep it going. Our love is a collaborative project, a great work of art. It is the biggest and best thing in my life.