Is the ability to quickly spot a four-leaf clover in a sea of clover a talent you are born with or something you can learn?

We were winding down the Easter egg hunt and festitivies earlier this spring when my older sister proclaimed that her grandson, aged 8, was always finding four-leaf clovers and could probably find one in my lawn.

Without thinking it through, I offered to pay my great-nephew five dollars if he found me a four-leaf clover right then.

Within a few minutes, his dad handed me a four-leaf clover, not found by my great-nephew but by my great-niece, aged 5. She must have overheard us talking and decided she wanted in on the deal.

Okay! Five dollars it is, and just as I started heading inside to get the money, someone handed me another four-leaf clover, this one found by my great-nephew. It was the tiniest four-leaf clover I’ve ever seen, almost requiring a magnifying lens to see that it clearly had four leaves.

Okay! Ten dollars it is. I took my two four-leaf clovers and gave each child five dollars.

I also called a halt to the offer, just in case anyone else found a four-leaf clover.

After everyone left, I carefully teased apart the wilting leaves of my new four-leaf clovers and pressed them in a book. I paid ten dollars for them! I wasn’t going to just toss them in the trash.

I think I’ll use them to make a bookmark or some other artifact to look at while I ask myself the question that is now on everyone’s mind…

Is the ability to quickly spot a four-leaf clover in a sea of clover a talent you are born with or something you can learn?