SOME PEOPLE HAVE ALL THE LUCK

Readers share their greatest strokes of good fortune

Knowing When to Cash In

My mother's luck was legendary. She once won a brand-new Ford in a church raffle. Forty years later, she won a Mercedes from the same church. My favorite was when she visited Las Vegas. My sister gave our mother $25 for fun. Mother spent it all on one chip, dropped the chip into a giant slot machine, won $125, and said, "That's probably enough."
-ANGELA MURPHY-WALTERS Elizabethton, TN

A Goof-Proof Roof

Three months after buying our home, we learned we'd need a new roof because of damage incurred right before closing. It was a drawn-out process involving real estate agents and insurance. For months we got nowhere. Then I arrived home one day to a crew working on the roof. I was confused as to why I hadn't been notified until my neighbor strolled up and said, "My roof sure looks nice on your house." Turned out, my neighbor's shingles had been mistakenly delivered to our house and the crew just started working. The roofing company admitted its mistake, so we wound up with a free roof. The freakiest part? We got a final claim rejection letter in the mail that evening. We would've had to pay out of pocket. It remains the weirdest stroke of good luck we ever had.
-JENNIFER SCHOONOVER Trimble, MO

A Real Diamond in the Rough

My wife cherishes her diamond engagement ring. Six years into our marriage, it disappeared. We searched everywhere all over the house, her classroom, the yard-but no luck. We replaced it with a cubic zirconia copy. One afternoon 14 years later, while digging in the garden, I saw something: my wife's diamond engagement ring, still shiny after all these years.
-LAWRENCE LEFKE North Myrtle Beach, SC

An Electrifying Find