Lucky Charm Calamity

I just entered this sentence at Writer’s Digest for the monthly contest.  This one is based on the prompt:  “In 25 words or fewer, write an opening sentence – just one – to a story, incorporating the following words: lucky, charm and calamity.”

I figured there was no time like the present to start working out my writing muscles by doing some silly, fun exercise like this….drum rolls please!

“My lucky charm was from my great-great-grandmother, a tradition passed down in attempts to avoid the family curse of calamity.”
I think I’m going to use this as a jump off point to start a short story – one I actually remember writing back in Junior year English class with one of my gal friends….I wrote about a tragic death – she wrote about life being symbolized as a highway.  I don’t remember the assignment – but I remember the teacher not really going for her paper…and I think mine was in the top couple for the class.  Ironic that she is the one that became a writer – and I actually did like her symbolism of life as a highway and we all chose different lanes to pursue our life in.  
Anyways – if any of you are reading this I just have to say that we had a BEAUTIFUL day out here in NorCal.  The boys and I were outside picking the cuties off our tree (for those that don’t know what cuties are – they are little clementines).  They took turns climbing the ladder while I held it …but mostly it was me risking my neck up on the ladder trying to find vantage points to pick the darn things.  If you live in the neighborhood – come over and grab some.
Okay – off to writing my first short story in a VERY VERY long time!