Friday, October 10, 2008

Very Superstitious

Very superstitious, writings on the wall,
Very superstitious, ladders bout to fall,
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin’ glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past. – “Superstition, Stevie Wonder”

I grew up in an Irish Catholic household. (Even though he had been done for a few years when I was born, John Kennedy’s photo was still proudly displayed in the living room.) My grandmother, who was only the second generation born in the United States, came programmed with every superstition imaginable.

You didn’t walk under ladders or open umbrellas in the house. If you spilled pepper, you quickly threw salt over your left shoulder. And if you broke a mirror … well, you were done for. For at least seven years anyway.

All kinds of crazy shit.

I’ve retained very little of it, fortunately. But it’s always fun when something off the wall seems to work. So when I read this post from Why S? over at the House on Red Hill, I decided to give it a try. “What the hell?” thought I in my classic nothing ventured, nothing gained approach. That was MONDAY.

Two days later …
I received notification that something I thought I was still paying off was already paid. A day later, I received a check refunding half of the last payment I’d made.

Do I think this caused it? The honest answer is that I don’t know. It was awfully strange though. Awfully strange indeed …

7 comments:

MonkeyGirl said...

Ok, you have caused me to rummage throughout the house looking for a solid red ribbon. I finally disassembled a red christmas bow and tied it around the sink pipe. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

CD said...

Not only did I buy some red ribbon, I'm tying it on all of my sinks. The post didn't identify which one, but I want to make sure all of my bases are covered.

Ann said...

Well, dang. I wonder if it can win me the Powerball I'm owed.

[sidebar: didja see that Ozzie is an official calendar dawg :)]

NV said...

MG -- That made me laugh. But I'm crossin' my fingers,too.

CD -- Go for it, girl! I hope whatever came my way will head yours, too!

Ann -- You never know, right?!

OZZIE?! Seriously? No. No email about it. I didn't see anything on the site either.

Vicki said...

Italians are a supersticious bunch. One of the churches over there almost collapsed because they were taking handfuls of dirt from the floor/foundation in one corner.

Why S? said...

Man! Like I used to say in the old days, Far Out! Can we all send a bunch of ribbon to Wall Street and GM and . . . ?

I'm glad it worked for you.

NV said...

V -- Italians, Irish, Hispanics ... I think a lot of it comes from those Catholic roots.

Why -- THANKS for sharing this! I am still stunned by the events of last week. And while I don't know whether or not the ribbon really made any difference, it sure is fun to think about the possibilities.