Some people are born lucky. Lucky, but they walk through a life not too different from most people. Sure, there’s the occasional unlikely event that falls in their favor; winning a modest prize in a raffle, getting an interview with that one big company, or something like that. Enough to get commented on, but not really that weird. It’s easy enough to explain away with confirmation bias, or random chance.

And fewer people are really lucky. Much more uncommon, but much more remarkable. These are the kind of people to walk around, find a quarter, then later discover that it’s a rare, expensive one that only got stamped in the sixties or something. Or they get lost, find themselves caught in some exhilarating adventure, and come out of it with a ridiculous tale and newfound friends.

And then there was Elliot. He was, inexplicably, the luckiest motherfucker on the planet. This is only slightly an exaggeration, since I haven’t met or heard of anyone luckier, real or fictional. It does not matter what he was doing or where he was; he always got lucky, supernaturally so. Playing poker? His hand would always beat everyone else’s. If he was ever driving anywhere, somehow, he’d never run into a red light or even a yellow one. I don’t think he’s ever seen one of those except in movies. The list of absurd luck in both his day to day and in unique situations continued, in all kinds of ways.

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You might notice that I say all of this in the past tense. An astute observation, because it didn’t last; his luck ran out one day, in a most spectacular fashion.

Recently, he went BASE jumping. No training, no experience, and definitely not with qualified gear. He told me that the “uncertainty” made it more interesting, though he and everyone who knew him was certain that he’d go unscathed.

I guess we were all wrong. I don’t know why it went wrong that day, and so abruptly, too. Maybe he’d cheated Lady Luck too long, and it was coming back to him. Or maybe it was luck that he died, and he’s having the time of his life somewhere beyond. He’s always been a huge mystery, and I suppose, this is just a continuation of that.

All I know is that I’ll never forget him. What a guy.