Each clover is lucky…

When I was still pretty young, I learned that four-leaf clovers were lucky. As a youngster, I would spend hours crawling through the lush clovers that grew in our backyard to try to find one. (I never did!) One day after yet another fruitless search, my dad told me about the four-leaf clovers that he used to get in the mail from his grandfather, George Weil (1889-1981). He told me this story:

We lived halfway across the country from my grandparents while I was growing up. They lived in New Jersey and I lived in the Midwest. My grandparents had many grandchildren, and could not send each one presents for their birthdays or for Christmas. Those that lived close could share visits, but those of us who lived far away saw them rarely. But my grandfather made each holiday a special one. I’d receive a card from them every birthday and Christmas, and inside each card were a number of four-leaf clovers. Sometimes there’d be just one, other times there’d be more. I didn’t know why he would send me and my brother and sister clovers, until I asked him one time. His answer was “Each clover is lucky. Make a wish and if you’re lucky enough, it will come true.” I found out later that he would spend literally hours every week looking for four-leaf clovers for his distant grandchildren.

He must have found hundreds of them, and shared every single one with his grandchildren. He was quite a lucky man to find so many four-leaf clovers!

Sources:

• Written story from P. Weil, 2002, notes privately held by E. Johnson.
• Weil family photos, 1940’s-1980’s, privately held.