Happy Friday, Dear Readers!
As we approach another weekend, let’s flex those creative muscles with a new Fun Friday writing exercise. It’s been a while, and though relaxing is fine, we don’t want to get rusty, do we? I thought not.
Lately I’ve been thinking about superstitions. In spite of my extreme optimism, this year started off on a bad note for me. First, I was told by an appliance repairman that my oven could go at any time and is not worth the cost of repairing. Then my hot water tank went the way of the dodo bird, flooding my poor basement again. Of course the common sense-challenged fools who owned my home before I purchased it decided to put up a new wall beside the existing hot water tank, effectively blocking it in and preventing its removal. After a conversion and other charges for relocating the tank, I was out $1500. Ouch. Happy New Year to me. For some reason, my electrical/natural gas bill is also $100 more expensive than usual this month.
The last bit of bad luck? I lost my wallet on the bus this morning, so I’m out another $75 for a new bus pass, plus the $20 of change I was carrying. I was able to cancel my credit card, bank card, and Airmiles before anyone could use them, and I wasn’t carrying any cash, so I guess it could have been a lot worse, but still. More expenses I do not need!
So, what do you think? Is this a bad omen for the year ahead, or just a string of unlucky coincidences? Everyone I know seems to believe in some superstition or other. Even my ever-practical mother, who firmly maintains that she doesn’t believe in anything she can’t have insurmountable proof of, thinks that bad things happen in threes and that Kenneth is an unlucky name.
For this Fun Friday writing exercise, I want to know what superstitions you believe in. Do you get the chills whenever a black cat crosses your path? Believe the fortunes you get in those Chinese restaurant cookies? Feel that picking up a penny will give you good luck?
Is luck real, or just a state of mind?
In any case, please send some good luck my way. Looks like I’m gonna need it!
Have no fear. If something bad happens at the wedding, it will be a good marriage. This is a sign that great things are lining up. Me supersticious? Nah… but I’m not going to leave that penny on the ground -just in case…
Holli, hugs for you with those nasty events. What a bunch of stuff all at once! Not fun…
I’m not superstitious but I’m always curious about the roots of superstitions…who got something dropped on them after walking under a ladder? Black cats and witches and bad luck or just too many on a bad route? Things happen in threes – but where is the FIRST three? Mirrors and so many other things…
some supersitions are merely cautions against things with dire consequences.
Walking under a ladder makes perfect sense actually. Think of what could happen if you were to bump into the ladder? That would be very unlucky for the person at the top. Also if there is someone at the top of the ladder, by walking under it, you are walking directly into the path of anything they might drop.
Historically, breaking mirrors also makes sense. Up until sometime in the last century, mirrors were prohibitively expensive. Glass was not mass produced, and the silver backing also ran a pretty penny. Many families did not have a mirror at all, or if they did it was a family heirloom. Breaking it would be losing something of great value.
Stepping on cracks… Well it may not be practical for sidewalk cracks, but In the town where I grew up, the hills were unstable and prone to sliding. If you stepped on a crack in the hill, it could swallow you whole…
As a 16 year old kid In Thompson Mb. 79′ I had a job unloading trucks at the local Canadian Tire. One day, we received our seasonal shipment of household goods. The contents of two pallets at the rear of the semi we were unloading were, unbeknownst to me, engaged in a sad perilous relationship with the devil known as “gravity”. I proceeded to to attempt to offload the poorly packed items – it was much like picking a stick outta a Kerplunk game, AND choosing the wrong item to remove first – both pallets came crashing down. Final tally, 47 broken and cracked mirrors! That night on the way home my old 1972 Malibu was sideswiped by a taxi careening through a red light. Superstitious or not – the event definitely left an impression – so to this day – I vote NO to breaking mirrors.
I don’t really believe in luck–good or bad. I choose not to think that there are forces outside myself that are shaping my reality. On the other hand I would def. pick up a penny because, for me, it represents the abundance in the world that is all around us.
I’m one of those people who say “in bed” after reading fortunes in cookies ;0) No, I don’t believe in superstitions. Sometimes it seems that luck is real when I see people consistently win silent auctions at socials (I’ve never won a social prize) but then they could have thrown in 20x as many tickets as me…
And yes, I’ll pick up that penny…they all add up…;0)
Great posts, everyone! I really enjoyed reading them. There were some great insights there.
And thanks for everyone who sent me good luck. My wallet was returned, so it must be working, right? Right? 🙂