July 29, 2020 - 320 - "Putting the Super In Superstitious"

I'm Superstitious About Very Few Things

   A black cat crossing my path is not a problem.  I'm positive the broken mirror thing isn't right.  (If it were I'd have enough bad luck to last several lifetimes.)  I'm okay opening an umbrella in the house, and I'll even walk under a ladder.  (Though I do carefully check what's happening at the top of the ladder.  There's probably a reason for this one being considered bad luck.)

     But there's a superstitious thing I do.

I Can't Stop

   When Michael and I were first together, he had an apartment with a big window that looked out on the parking lot.  Every morning I'd kiss him goodbye at the door, and then wave goodbye from that window.

     I actually lived in New York at the time, so when I was visiting, I didn't have much to do.  Besides, we were newly in love, and I liked to feast my eyes on him as long as possible. 

     And I still see him off when he's going somewhere.  

     With my job I'm either very home...or very away.  So, I've always figured it's no hardship to see Michael off to work in the morning.  (Or, ya know, wherever he's going.)

     I've never been 100% about doing it.  I've slept right through Michael leaving, or not realized he was leaving the house until he was gone.  But, mostly, I go to the door or out to the garage and see him off.

    It's all very 50's housewife-ish and I've intended to stop more than once. 

But Now I've Become Superstitious About It

   My fear isn't that something will happen to one of us if I don't do it.  It's more that, when I don't do it, I start hearing B. B. King singing:  "The Thrill is Gone." 

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    Who wants to get to the point where one is saying:  "Remember how you used to see me off every morning?"   

     So, I suppose it's an attempt to keep the romance and appreciation for each other alive.

     Besides, it's a sweet moment in the day when I'm not saying:  "Shhhh...this is the part of the podcast I've been waiting for!"  Or:  "Huh?  Oh...are you still here?" as I look up from a lengthy text session, or whatever distraction is happening at the moment. 

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It's a little like Nora Ephron's wonderful dialogue in "When Harry Met Sally":

Harry Burns:

     You take someone to the airport, it's clearly the beginning of the relationship.  That's why I have never taken anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship.

Sally Albright:

    Why?

Harry Burns:

     Because eventually things move on and you don't take someone to the airport, and I never wanted anyone to say to me, How come you never take me to the airport anymore?

Sally Albright:

     It's amazing.  You look like a normal person, but actually, you are the angel of death.

Daily Hits of Happy

     -New systems in action - with sticky-note charts, highlighters, and everything! And it's not just pretty. It's working.

     -Ella jumping in the sink in the laundry room, so I'll turn on the faucet, and she can bat at the water.  :-)

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"Superstition is the religion of feeble minds."

-Edmund Burke

 

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"The only superstition I have is that I must start a new book on the same day that I finish the last one, even if it's just a few notes in a file.  I dread not having work in progress."  

-Terry Pratchett  

(Good writer superstition to have.)

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