Chain Letters

It always happens in a similar fashion: I'm having a relatively good day. Work was good, the kids are being good, all is well in my world. I sign into my email, browse through the never-ending list of forwards, and I notice a message that gets my interest. "I'm pregnant" "Save this child's life" "URGENT!" Whatever the title, it's guaranteed to be one that will make me read. I scroll through the endless list of names that this email has previously been forwarded to, and finally I reach the message.

It generally starts out with the story of Bob, who had a picture-perfect life, dated the pretty girl, had a great job, blah blah blah, until he got an email that he was instructed to forward. Bob didn't bother to follow the instructions, and the next day, Bob lost his job. He caught his girlfriend cheating on him with his best friend. Then his house burnt down, and while fleeing the fire, Bob was attacked by a rabid dog, robbed of his clothes, and finally, run over by a semi. Poor Bob.

The email then goes on to instruct me that if I do not forward this message to however many people within however many minutes/hours, the same tragic fate will come my way. What the hell? You mean to tell me that if I don't send this email to 98 people in the next 5 minutes that I'm going to meet my maker in some similarly horrific-yet-hilarious manner? I don't even have 98 contacts. Not to mention that I've spent the last 3 minutes griping about how ridiculous this is, so now I'm down to 2 minutes.

Obviously, I am not going to forward this ridiculousness to any of my friends. I'm tempted to call up the idiotic friend who sent it to me in the first place. Are people really so stupid that they will repeat the pattern? Oh, I'm sure after first reading the email they had the same reaction I did. Then the wheels started turning in their brains. What if it's true? What if by some chance I DID die for not sending this to my friends? Didn't I see on the news the other night that there's been a handful of mysterious deaths recently? Is this email the reason? I saw Final Destination. I don't want to be sending death my way unnecessarily. On and on it goes, the imagination spinning wildly out of control until they've convinced themselves that they simply MUST forward the email, just in case.

This reminds me of when I was a child, and my friends told me that if I stood in front of a mirror and said "Bloody Mary" three times, that the actual Bloody Mary from history would come and kill me (NOTE: Never, in all my years of studying history, did I ever read about this Bloody Mary person).

Needless to say, this anger-inducing email went straight to my trash. So, it's now been about an hour since reading the threatening email. I'm still kicking. However, if this happens to be my last post, you'll know that I was kidnapped, tortured, dismembered and disposed of by Bloody Mary. Que sera, sera.

Silly Superstitions

A few days ago I was driving home with my cousin when we passed under a yellow traffic light.  She immediately kissed her thumb and touched the roof of the car.  I looked at her, befuddled.  She explained that you're supposed to do that every time you go under a yellow light for good luck.  I laughed and told her she was ridiculous.

I'm not afraid of Friday the 13th. I will walk under ladders and step on cracks without fear of breaking my mother's back. I don't freak out when a black cat crosses my path, either.  Most of these old superstitions seem just silly to me.  

Then there are funny superstitions, like a friend of mine who wears the same New Orleans Saints T-Shirt and cooks the same meal every time the Saints play ball because he's afraid it will bring the team bad luck if he doesn't.   Or my younger cousin, who, when his junior high basketball team was undefeated, wore the same underwear and socks every game for luck.   

I consider myself to be fairly level-headed, and when I said so to Hubs, he quickly brought it to my attention that I am, in fact, superstitious about a few things.  They're things that I've done for so long that I didn't even consider them unusual.  Apparently I'm right up there with the rest of the weirdos.

Knock on wood

It's true, whenever someone asks me how well my oldest daughter is doing with potty training, how my car is running, or how LSU is doing during football season (or any other similar question), if the response is a good one, I knock on the nearest piece of wood I can find, just in case.  Don't want to jinx it!

Bless you!

Growing up my sister, cousins and I always heard that if someone sneezed and you didn't say "God Bless You" an evil spirit would be able to possess them by going up their nose.    Of course I know now that it's simply a matter of courtesy.  As a kid, though, that scared the hell out of me.

Salt over your shoulder

The first time I ever heard of this was while watching Dumb & Dumber.  It piqued my curiosity and after questioning my grandpa I learned it was an actual superstition.  From then on I've always thrown salt over the shoulder after any spill. 

If the clasp on your necklace slides around to the front, kiss it.

I have no idea where this one originated, but my friends and I always kissed the clasp on our necklaces whenever they turned to the front because we were told it meant the person you liked was thinking about you, and by kissing it they would be yours.  Silly little superstition, but to this day still I kiss the clasp whenever I notice it in front, out of habit.    

Exessive tickling will give baby a stutter

I've heard this one my entire life.  Anytime someone would come visit with a new baby, there would always be one person who wanted to tickle the poor thing until it couldn't catch its breath, and either my grandmother, mother or aunt would sternly remind them, "Don't tickle that baby too much, you'll give him/her a stutter!"   I always thought it was a ridiculous superstition, but once my babies were born, I found myself asking people not to tickle them too much....just in case...



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 Cabbage and black-eyed peas on New Year's Day

According to legend, eating cabbage and black-eyed peas on January 1st will grant you health and wealth. My family has never gone a New Year's Day without gathering at my grandmother's house to partake in this superstition.   I don't know why we stick to this one, because none of us have suddenly come into any money.  We have had good health in our family, though, so I guess it's worth eating once a year, just to be safe.   They should have made it something better though, like boiled crawfish and potato salad, don't you think?

These are the superstitions I can't help but keep.  Do you have any unusual superstitions?  I want to hear about them!