good luck will rub off when i shakes 'ands wif you

She sat on the back row of the bleachers wearing a brown plaid A-line jumper and ribbed white turtleneck, swinging her feet back and forth and wondering why they were HERE on this show today instead of in Kindergarten melting leaves & crayon bits in-between pieces wax paper, or dancing around the room to "Chim Chim Cheree" like they'd done yesterday. "Who is Captain Spaceman anyway?" she wondered to herself, looking at all the rows of lights hanging from the high ceiling of the television studio. Oh, well, at least the man in the giant blue leotard says our time is almost up, he just needs to draw a name for the prize. Sure, a prize would be nice, but not if she had to walk down in front of everybody to get it. No thanks. Her little wallflower self would rather just sit here watching her feet swing than be made a spectacle of, thank you very much. What did he say? The giveaway is a Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea game? Icky Yucky Ooky. She may only be five years old, but she's smart enough to know that Jules Verne, and for that matter, all Science Fiction stuff is for boys. And she did NOT want boy stuff. Surely they wouldn't call out a girl's name for a boy's toy. If they did, it would be like that awkward moment when the boy in front of you passes gas and then looks at you so everybody else will think it WAS you. No thank you very much. That would be mortifying. But she told herself there was nothing to worry about. Only a 1 in 30 chance even if they DID include the girls, "Which they wouldn't," she thought just as they announced ... HER name. WHAT? NOOOOO!

And that, boys and girls, was the beginning of my good fortune. I have gone on to win tickets and gift certificates to nice restaurants and books and videos and essay competitions and savings bonds and a vhs player and $200 in a photo contest and numerous cds and a weekend trip to Memphis, and if you have EVER been to a "sales party" with me, be it Pampered Chef or Creative Memories or Tupperware or whatever, you know my name is ALWAYS the one that gets drawn for the door prize. Always.

Some decades later, only a few petals remain from my wallflower days. I have since learned to love Jules Verne and the SyFy channel offerings, no thanks to that stupid boy board game. And since I just won a new flatscreen tv, I guess my lucky streak still holds.

*The little dude next to me was my first "boyfriend" despite the ugly plaid shirt and buzz cut. He gave me a bracelet. Gotta love a guy who gives you jewelry. And it's quite possible the girl next to me is Cindy Brady. Just sayin'.