Friday the 13th

I am not particularly superstitious, with the very real belief as as a kid that stepping on a crack in the sidewalk would cause irreparable harm to my mother’s back being the exception (actually, to this day, I do my best to avoid them — just in case).

And I don’t actually think that Friday the 13th is really unlucky. If there were any truth to it, we’d have figured out some way of getting rid of it by now, like how most buildings that have more than 13 stories just skip it and go from the 12th floor to the 14th floor (you can’t really fool luck, though. It knows what you did, building supervisor).

But still, plenty of folks really put a lot of stakes into what the day might bring. Fun fact: There is only one Friday the 13th this year. Sometimes there are as many as three! I do really, really like the very terrible “Friday the 13th” movies. I even have a Jason Voorhees hockey mask hanging about three feet from me as I type this, as well as a Jason Voorhees action figure (complete with machete!) sitting on my desk next my Yoda figurine and my Chipper Jones bobble-head.

Here’s the thing, though. Someone, somewhere is going to have something bad happen to them today. Maybe it will just be a flat tire. Maybe they’ll burn their toast.

Maybe they’ll break up with their girlfriend. I can’t say, but for them, they might then always think of Friday the 13th as an unlucky day and it could affect them the rest of their lives. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Someone should make a movie about THAT!