I plucked a 4-leaf clover from the ground today as I walked from my car to my store, FUTURES Antiques.

All of us can do things for which we've never understood how or why. Maybe we take them for granted, maybe we write them off as mere quirks with no significance, maybe we work hard to deny them, or maybe we simply find them a novelty - a party trick - a story to tell around the campfire. One of mine is an "ability" to find 4-leaf clovers. I just know where they are. I don't know how or why. It just is.

I can't remember when it started, but I do know when it hit me that I didn't need to "search" for them - I could let my intuition take me to them. This lesson would branch out in many ways over the years.

I was visiting Greeley Colorado for the day with one of my closest friends, Richard. I'm pretty sure we were there looking to meet women. We attended Colorado State in Ft. Collins. Greeley was 30 miles from us. It too had a college. The day was lovely, being students we decided there was nothing else to do, and so we went exploring. We did that a lot.

We found ourselves wandering in Greeleys' small city park. In the late 60's, that is where one was supposed to wander. It was the meeting place of the Counter Culture. This is where the free concerts, impromptu lectures, spontaneous Be-Ins and Love-Ins would happen. Denver/Boulder was the Colorado epicenter, but any park held potential. So we were there in Greeleys' park.

After a rousing game of Frisbee (the lubricant-activity of parks), we dropped to the grassy green shade, and relaxed. It was then I spied a 4-leaf clover. No big deal for me. I often found one in such casual moments. It was a relaxing "recreational goal". (I'm Type A) This one was somehow different...

I could "feel" it. I was tapped into a "flow" of some sort. (And no, drug use was long-gone for me.) From that point, with no searching, I moved with ease from one spot to another, knowing when to stop and where to look - never failing, never trying. Richard was highly entertained by this display.

I ended up with so many 4-leaf clovers, I had to mount them in batches - in TWO frames. (I still have them somewhere...)

After that day, I no longer "hunted". I simply "knew" when and where to look down, and there it would be. I was never again GREEDY for 4-leaf clovers - yanking them up as if panning gold during a rush. I felt I had more luck than I could use.

Once in awhile (for who-remembers-why?) the subject found itself in conversation, and since no one ever believes me, there have been times when I was willing to treat it as a party trick, even though I suspect it demeans the veiled existence of such experiences.

I won't do this any longer. The last time I USED this odd experience for "entertainment" was in 1979. I'd recently arrived in Virginia from Arizona, to begin my professorship at a local University. The department head helped me settle into my new city, and because of this, I was at his home more during the first months than in later years.

He had a son who, out of thin air, walked up to me one day and said "I can find more 4-leaf clovers than you." Now...........listen, THIS subject had NEVER come up here! It was weird! But I decided to use my "talent" and said "No you can't." "Wanna bet?" he asked. "Sure. You name it." He made his bet (whatever it was...I don't remember...I wasn't going to hold him to it anyhow). Needless to say, this was NOT a true competition, and his proclamation had the air sucked out of it very quickly. I don't know how he interpreted and used this "defeat" experience into his future, but I'll bet he DID carry it with him. It probably kept him away from the betting windows at the race track.