Isobel Whitaker has won second prize in the Year 7/8 section of the Ursula Moray Creative Writing Competition. Isobel completed her piece of writing from home during lockdown - a nice reminder to appreciate the little things.

What do you think about when you hear the word ‘luck’? A four-leafed clover, meaning good luck? Or a broken mirror, bad luck? If you were to see a tall pretty girl getting into a fancy car, with people putting piles of shopping bags into the boot, you would probably think of her as lucky, right? But what if you saw her later in her fancy room, crying her heart out with a bright red slap mark across half of her face? Not so lucky now, huh?

Most people are really lucky, they just don’t realise it. Even if you live a simple life, without any flashy things, that doesn’t mean that you don’t lead a lucky life. Many people don’t understand that simply having a roof over your head is lucky. Even going to school is lucky! Most of all, having people who love you, care for you, or just enjoy your company is lucky. So many people are blinded by the fact that they don’t have the newest edition of a game or toy, or they don’t have designer clothes, that they completely overlook the things that really matter.

When I look around, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic, I know how wonderfully lucky I am. I see a big house, a garden and a family that loves me. I see the meadow's long grass waving in the wind. I hear the chickens loudly squawking while scrabbling in the dusty dirt underneath their pen. I can feel the sheep snuffling their warm, soft lips on the palm of my hand when I feed them treats. At night I can hear the frogs’ croaking echo across the valley.

One of the main reasons that I recognise all of my luck now is due to the fact that my family and I are moving to Christchurch at the end of the year. My family is moving because of my mum’s job. We’re going to be leaving the church my dad pastors, our schools, our big house in the country, and most importantly our friends.

While I’m leaving all these things behind, I still have the most important thing… family. I can keep friendships alive, because although the distance is big, communication can make friendships last. Even though I don’t know where we’re going to live yet, I trust that there will be good things about it, although luck might look different to what it is here.

Like me, heaps of people only realise what they have taken for granted and what they should appreciate when it’s gone or is about to be taken away from them. If you stop and look around you will see that there are so many varieties of things to appreciate in everyday life. Don’t zoom in on one tiny detail and be depressed about that, zoom out and see what you already have, and stop taking it for granted.

You don’t know how lucky you are.