A True Story

One summer during college I worked at a fancy Thoroughbred breeding farm. Every morning we brought up all the mares and foals to eat breakfast, checked them over for any bumps or bruises and then turned them back out. Every day I watched Leonard, an older gentleman who had worked on the farm for many years, pick up four leafed clovers as we made our many trips to and from the paddocks. Lots of four leafed clovers. I never saw a four leafed clover. Never.

I asked him how he found them and he told me it was magic. A little later he told me that a person is either born to find them or someone has to give them the gift. “Can you give me the gift?” I would ask, and he would always reply that he didn’t know if he could. "Maybe someday". As the summer progressed, I really searched those alleyways. Surely if Leonard could find six or eight each morning, I could find one. Never.

One day towards the end of the summer, we were walking back up to the main barn after our last turnout run and Leonard stopped, called me over and said, sweeping his arm over a big patch of clover, “Somewhere in this patch you’ll find a four leafed clover.” I looked down and immediately saw it. I’ve been able to find them ever since. Here is the first one I’ve seen this spring.

Some more pictures from the porch. The view is all good.

Zzzzzz