Usually I am not a superstitious person, but this particular Friday the 13th may have me watching out for black cats and throwing salt over my shoulder. I know this is probably just the typical unfortunate coincidences that strike my life every day. But the day on which these events fall make them worth writing about.
Our first mistake was planning a large game party for the evening. We try to have these gatherings 3 or 4 times a year. We chose this cursed day for the simple fact that it did not coincide with any of our other obligations. It was, in fact, our last free night until at least August of next year. You'd think we'd be elated to spend the night watching tv and playing computer games. But not us. This is the blog for the overextended wife, mother, etc. Anyway, the troubles began with a not-too-unusual Minnesota October cold snap coupled with quite blustery winds. I took my lunch break to go to the grocery store near my office to pick up some last minute party supplies. As you may know, the season Minnesotan's know as "construction" is currently coming to rapid end. This means there is a rush to finish all road and construction projects before the ground freezes. On my way to said errand, I passes just such a construction site. As I cruised past, a large piece of insulation blew off the side of a new structure and whipped into the street. By large I mean the size of a small jet airplane. This pixie pink instrument of death hurdled toward my car at what seemed like hurricane force. It slammed into the side of the car and nearly drove me off the road before coming to rest in the middle of the lane. After stopping to pull the material out of the road in order spare someone else the trouble, I assessed the damage to my car. Sure enough, there is a long scratch (albeit somewhat superficial) scratch down the driver's side panel. After some cursing and lamenting of my fate, I made my way back to work. This was the first curse (and you know they always come in threes).
After work, I picked CT up from daycare. We were in quite a rush to get home and complete our party preparations. In addition, I really, really (and I can't stress that enough) needed to visit the restroom. In my haste, I may have accidentally run a red light. Sure enough, that car right behind me was a police car and less than a block later I was parked on the side of road squirming in my seat. For those who know of my recent run-in with the law, you'll understand that it was not just the need to use the restroom that had me fidgeting. Anyway, after a long lecture on the dangers of running red lights (which left me explaining and making excuses to CT for the rest of the evening) the nice officer gave me ticket for having out-of-date proof of insurance. It had expired (of course) only a few weeks prior. This was the second of the curses.
As I said, PK and I generally try to throw these game parties 3 or 4 times a year. They are always a lot of fun, but we usually have such a low turnout that we have to spend re-examining our social life and our popularity among those we consider friends. To avoid the usual embarrassment of blaming bad weather or a local football game for our tiny assembly, we invited everyone we know. No one was safe from our nagging and pleading. We even allowed CT to invite a couple of his school friends. We encouraged guests to bring kids and spouses. Y'all know where this is going. We had so many people that the house was steaming from the body heat. And there were kids we didn't even recognize...oh the kids we had! It was quite loud and rowdy at times.The crowd was so large that we found it difficult to find space and games to accommodate us all. Everyone said they had a great time, but we will definitely be more careful about the size of our guest list next time. The only positives out of the situation is that almost everyone brought food to share and I discovered that not all of PK's friends are imaginary. OK, this last curse wasn't all that bad. Afterall, discovering that one has too many friends can hardly be called a burden. But it did leave me considering the possibilities of the days' events after I flopped into bed that night. Is there something to this Friday the 13th thing? The conclusion I have reached is that it is quite probable that these same "curses" afflict me almost on a daily basis. So, Friday the 13th was really no different than Thursday the 12th... that's the day I made an appointment at a bridal shop to have my bridesmaid's dress altered only to find the shop was under new management, had changed its name and moved to a new location and it took me 45 minutes driving around town to find the new place that had, by this time, closed for the evening.
I'd love to hear your Friday the 13th stories...or Thursday the 12th for that matter. Feel free to post them so we can all marvel at the mysterious coincidences that harass us all on this wretched day.
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