My Luckiest Charms (from the Archive)

Originally Posted by Katherine Longshore on 3/13/2012

When I think of lucky charms, I think of all the things athletes and actors and others do to bring them the best luck possible.  Lucky underwear.  Not saying the name of the Scottish Play (which I still have a hard time saying out loud, despite the 11 years since I last set foot on a stage).  Touching the ceiling of the car when driving over railroad tracks.  A rabbit’s foot.  The four-leafed clover.

Interesting aside – my grandmother could find a four-leafed clover without even looking.  She had a gift.  You would be walking somewhere with her – say, down the sidewalk in her Pikesville neighborhood – and she’d stop, bend over, and hand you a four-leafed clover. The only ones I’ve ever held were found by her.

Now, I don’t have much I keep around me for luck, but I do have a few things that help me remember how lucky I am.

Several years ago – before I even began writing GILT – I took a trip to England with my family.  My husband is English and both of my kids were born there, so we try to return as often as we can.  On this particular trip, my kids were both still quite young.  We gave them each a sum of money to spend on mementoes – t-shirts, toys, pencils, what-have-you.  And in the Tower of London gift shop, my oldest bought a little statue of Henry VIII.  I’d been reading about him for years and probably talking too much about him on the trip – through Windsor, Winchester Cathedral, Portsmouth.  So I was delighted that some of my interest had rubbed off.  But when we got home, he handed me the little statue and said, “This is for you, mum.”  Henry has watched me write ever since.

After GILT sold, I wanted to treat myself to something special to commemorate it.  In fact, I think Donna may have suggested it, clever girl that she is.  So I searched the interwebs and found a pretty little pendant with Catherine Howard’s emblem on it – the crowned rose.  Of course, historians have discounted that it was her emblem specifically.  It could have been a Tudor symbol and evidence points to Catherine not having enough time as Queen to have her own emblem.  But I chose it anyway.

I often wear this necklace to conferences and events.  I like the feel of it around my neck. And I love to talk about it when people ask.

The pendant is actually a locket.  And inside it, I keep photos of my two luckiest charms.