The question of luck is one I’ve long considered. Is one lucky because one is granted great fortune or because one avoids calamity. I’ve never really been graced with the former, but it’s hard not to be grateful for surviving unscathed.
In my life, I have been struck by lightning, sucked into a rip tide, attacked by dogs, and, believe it or not, a car once fell on me yet I’ve never been hospitalized for any of them So, the question remains.
Am I lucky or cursed?
To tell my story of lucky misfortune, I really should begin more than thirty years before my birth. When my mother was three months old, Germany invaded Poland. My grandparents escaped Lodz before the ghetto closed. Part of the story of how they escaped two hundred miles on foot was published by the Washington Post here. As for my own lucky misfortunes, the first one happened at three years old at Miami Beach.
The Rip Tide
My family was vacationing in Miami. My grandmother, sister and I were staying with my aunt. Every day, we would walk the few blocks to the beach where we would play with beach balls, in the sand, and near the shore. I even sometimes let the water lap on my feet before screaming and running away.
One morning, my grandmother left my sister in charge of me. It was only for a short time just long enough for her to run back to the apartment and grab something she needed. My sister wasn’t really happy about being burdened with me. She was eight years old and wanted more than anything else to go rafting. I didn’t. I wanted to build and smash sandcastles. Besides, I couldn’t swim. I was only three.
The waves called to her. She looked at me and decided that my inability to swim wasn’t a good enough reason for her to have to wait. She was there to have fun. Still, she knew she couldn’t leave me alone so she tried to convince me to ride with her. First, she told me she’d protect me. Told me, rafting is was the funnest thing ever. I refused, but she continued until she wore me down. Eight year olds have greater will power than three year olds… well, they did in this instance.
The first ride was great. We swept down the wave, flying tandem on our rented raft. She held onto me with the weight of her body. It was like a slide. Except better.
She said, “I told you so” and asked if I wanted to go again.
I jumped up and down, screaming, yes!
The second wave crashed over us. To this day, I can feel the water pummeling me, pulling my eyelids back, feel the grit that sandpapered my irises. I remember losing any sense of up and down. All I knew was that I was moving fast and that I was under water.
I’m not sure how far I traveled, I’m not even sure how long I was under, but I was told my sister was the one to find me.
Attacked by Dogs
At eight years old, I walked to and back from elementary school. Most days, I took a short cut. It wasn’t a real short cut through the woods, but a neighborly one with paved streets that let me avoid the crossing guards. What I didn’t know about was the german shepherd.
It was a big dog that had been teased by neighborhood kids. Its owner later claimed that bullies threw rocks at it. I didn’t know any of that. All I knew was that the route let me avoid some bossy kids. When the dog saw me it growled and jumped. It snapped the tire chain used to tie it down. I stopped in the middle of the street. I remember watching it charging towards me. I didn’t turn to run. I just stood there.
It leapt and snapped its jaws. Its weight bore me down and I crashed onto the asphalt street. Luckily, the german shepherd chose to go for my knee instead of my neck. Almost immediately, I hear a car horn. From a house, the owner runs down a hill to pull the dog off of me. She’s cursing at me and accuses me of attacking her dog. The driver leaves her car to defend me.
“I saw the whole thing. He didn’t do anything.”
It turns out the driver’s a neighbor and saw the whole thing.
The neighbor takes me into her house. She offers me cookies and milk while asking me for my phone number. She tells me that I’m very brave. This confuses me. I ask her why. She tells me, “Your knee.”
I look down and see the torn corduroy, the blood, my mangled knee. All of a sudden, I feel pain. Terrible, excruciating pain and start to cry.
When my parents collect me, I’m taken to the hospital. I require stitches, but get to go home that night. Strangely, the worst part of the incident wasn’t the attack or even the fact that I learned to fear dogs. The hardest part was when I was told that the dog had previously been involved in a biting attack. Then, and it’s hard to know if this is exactly true, but it’s how I remember it. I was given the choice of whether the dog should be destroyed.
That dog lived. I understood what it was like to be bullied and needing to strike back. I wouldn’t let it pay the price.
Lightning
My family lived at the bottom of a hill. If it rained too hard during the Fall the leaves would collect in the gutter and the house would flood. It was the kids’ job to make sure that didn’t happen. So, one night it’s raining and thundering. I open our metal basement door and am leaning down to scoop leaves and throw them up over the brickwork and stairs. Thunder crashes. I’m getting wet, but I’m a kid and don’t mind too much.
Then.
Someone strikes me in the back of the head with a two by four. I spin around and see nothing. I feel this shock running through my body, but it’s gone almost as soon as I notice it.
I wish I could tell you that as a result of being struck by lightning I gained the power of flight or that I could shoot sparks from my fingertips. None of that happened. I don’t even think I got to miss a turn cleaning the gutter.
A Car Fell on Me
It’s actually not as dramatic as it sounds.
I was helping a friend change a tire. I didn’t realize he didn’t know how to set the jack. The jack slipped and the car and the partly removed tire fell on my foot. I was afraid my foot would be squashed, but it only pinned me. I remember my friend screaming and me trying to extricate my foot, but being unable to. Eventually, when we managed to nudge the car up I pulled myself free.
Amazingly, my foot escaped without even a bruise.
