Pennies from Heaven
January 30, 2023
Author: Caroline Tully
Editor: Lexie Meltzer
Simply put, I have had the worst luck this semester. I broke my leg, my final paper was deleted mere hours before it was due, and my friends and I didn’t get the house we wanted for senior year, among many other misfortunes that I won’t go into for your sake and mine. It seemed like every day something would go wrong. Worst of all, they were all things that were out of my control.
Since junior year of high school, I’ve built a collection of all the lucky pennies I have found, and I carry one with me at all times — you could say pennies are kind of my thing. This all started when my English class got into a heated debate about whether or not we should keep the penny as a form of currency in the US. All of my classmates agreed that the coin was pointless; no one uses pennies to pay for things anymore, it costs more than a cent to make the coin, and change is simply annoying. I, on the other hand, was adamant about keeping it. I loved the historical and sentimental value behind it. Making wishes in fountains would be done for, phrases like “a penny for your thoughts” would not make sense, and songs like “Pennies From Heaven” would not have been written. It was all too sad to imagine the copper coin gone (tears were in fact shed during this discussion). Naturally, everyone thought that I was crazy and stuck to their opinions.
Pennies have since been a huge part of my life. I even used a penny to make a coin toss to decide where I went to college; it clearly steered me in the right direction. But, this semester, it feels like they’ve lost their value. Where was the luck when I needed it?
A few days ago, I was walking home on a clinical day at the hospital that just destroyed me. I looked down at the pavement in front of me and saw a dirt covered disc that loosely resembled a penny. I picked it up and could just barely make out the Lincoln memorial etched into the back. The old, withered ones have always been my favorite. I brought it home and washed it off with tears streaming down my face. I was just so frustrated from my day and wished that I could get some luck back into my life.
Then, it hit me. I don’t collect these pennies because I truly think they bring me good luck. I collect them because I find value in the invaluable. This filthy, oxidized piece of copper (that may not even be acceptable to use to purchase anything) still has a purpose. And this tragic, anxiety-inducing semester has value in it, too. All of the struggles that I have endured have not been for nothing. They have built me into the strong and courageous woman that I couldn’t necessarily say that I was before. In the moments that make me feel defeated, hang my head low, and look down at the ground, I can only hope that I find the next penny to lift my chin back up.
Image: https://trello.com/1/cards/63854df86d04b5021e15b6a9/attachments/63ceb93c6a7818029dc64061/download/fe6570dec96adff7eee4454a7c3ead3b.jpg
