Superstitious?

I guess I am what some might call just a little superstitious by default.…”De-fault” of my Mother! I grew up with my Mom spewing a multitude of no-no’s due to her superstitious up-bringing. One that I remember not-so-fondly was her insisting that no one “sing before you eat, or you’ll cry before you sleep”. My Dad would “press her buttons” by coming down the stairs in the morning singing his fool head off just to annoy her. She would immediately snap, “No singing before breakfast!“ Then he switched to whistling. That would only infuriate her more so he would start humming. Mom would throw a grape down our throats just so that would constitute breakfast so Dad’s musical influence would not effect our day.

If Mom saw a black cat about to cross the path of her car, she would literally stop the vehicle, and turn it around. One time it took us 2 hours to get to school due to our detours. I wonder if the President or his limo driver shared such feelings. That might result in a few motorcades making endless circles. That might annoy the dignitaries he was going to meet and result in some kinda war or at least a boycott of the regional berries.

I never did understand people thinking they have an effect over some televised sporting event played over 2000 miles away. If Ohio State scored while Mom was on a bathroom break, she, being a huge OSU fan, would rush to powder her nose every time they threw a pass into the end zone or attempted a field goal. Geez, I think she was surprised that the coach never personally called her to either thank her for her efforts in the win or chastise her for not flushing enough as it had to be fault that #84 fumbled at the 3 yard line.

One time I was playing in a golf tournament and in my rush to make my tee time, I had put on mis-matched socks. They were both white but the trim was blue on one foot and pink on the other. It didn’t bother me as I don’t really swing the club with my socks and I went on to win my match. Mom was SURE my victory belonged to Etonic, the sock manufacturer. From then on, every golf match I played in the next 23 years, I wore socks that didn’t match. (at least I had another pair of them at home if they got wet!). Of course, that made no sense at all as I would lose more than I won. But Mom theorized that could then be blamed on the fact that my opponent must have had a fresher rabbit foot or some other lucky charm and that I didn’t believe enough in my socks.

I must say that on occasion, we did have company arrive from the direction that my fork pointed when it fell off the table. And maybe once in a great wile,my nose itched and I kissed a fool. Now and then,it turned out that just at the moment when my ears were burning (from being out in the sun too long), my Aunt Margaret Mary had been talking about me (how I should let boys beat me at ping pong or I’d never find a man).

Ok, so yesterday I sang a little ditty before breakfast and I happened to see a sad movie later and cried like a newborn.
And I wore matching socks when I played shuffleboard and lost 27 games in a row....
Hmmm..maybe there IS something to this superstition stuff. Today I am off to buy a four-leaf clover and a horseshoe. If I see a black cat on the way to Walmart, I’ll reverse directions and go to K-Mart.