Pennies

My sons and I seed lucky days. I am sure you know that when you find a penny, it means you will have a lucky day. I hate pennies. They accumulate in useless piles on endtables and countertops and nightstands around the house and clog up the ash tray in the car. They should be eliminated from use and all transactions rounded to the nearest nickel. They cost more to make than they are worth. I refuse to participate in the use of pennies as change. At my art gallery, I round in the customer’s favor to the nearest five cents. And when someone gives me pennies as change, I turn them into lucky day seeds. I drop them discretely outside the store and along the sidewalk. So that someone else will find them and feel lucky.
One day I had done just that, seeded the sidewalk in front of my Jeep before climbing in to go. As I sat there in the driver’s seat, I remembered one more stop I needed to make and was about to get back out when I saw a man walk across the front of my vehicle, stop, look around, go back, pick up the penny, pause, smile, and put it in his pocket. That day, that penny, that lucky-day-seed, did indeed sprout, because with that man’s freshly discovered smile and air of expectation, how could he have anything but a lucky day? My sons use their pennies in the same way. I hope you find one of our lucky day seeds for yourself someday, but here’s the thing: You don’t have to keep it for it to work. You can squeeze it between a forefinger and thumb, say to yourself “Today is my lucky day!” and drop it back down to seed another lucky day for another lucky passerby!