Life in progress

Tag Archives: luck


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Three Times Lucky

This post has been brewing for about a week.  Since I can’t sleep tonight, here it is.

It was Tuesday. I know it was Tuesday because I took Alex to his weekly baseball game at 7pm. But it all started on the way to camp in the morning.

I was driving along the main strip during what passes for rush hour in this little city, late as usual. It’s a four-lane road, with two lanes going north and two going south, with lots of plazas, restaurants, car dealerships–you get the picture–on both sides. Anyhoo, I was traveling north in the left lane when I came to a line of cars stopped, waiting for someone to turn left. I was still going the speed limit, so I decided to go around them. I checked my rear-view mirror: absolutely nothing behind me. Checked my blind spot: nothing there either. So I put my blinker on to change lanes.  Just as someone pulled out of a driveway on my right.

Here’s a diagram: (I’m the one driving the purple space ship.)

Mad Paint Skillz Diagram 1

I managed to swerve and miss him, though I’m guessing he really slammed on the brakes. Close call number one.

Fast forward to the afternoon. I’d picked Alex up from camp and we were coming home.

There’s this one little awkward four-way intersection near my house with a two-way stop. I had to stop. I did. I looked both ways. I swear I did. I always look left first, then right, then left one more time because that’s where the nearest cars are coming from. Where the one I almost pulled out in front of that was coming down the street on the passenger side of my car, I have no clue. In my defense, it really is an awkward intersection. It’s hard to see both ways, AND I have this post on the side of my windshield that gets in the way.

Mad Paint Skillz Diagram 2

We both slammed on the brakes this time. And avoided a collision. Still, that was close call number two.

I KNEW there was going to have to be a number three. I just KNEW it. But, I got in the car anyway to drive Alex to baseball. I could have let my best friend, John, drive–he was coming with us anyway, and he’s a professional driver–but I didn’t.

How far from home did we get? About two minutes. Almost the same scenario as the morning, the difference being I was in the right lane this time, and the cars were stopped for a light.

I saw way ahead that there was construction in the right lane, so I decided to go around the loooong line of cars in the right lane. I checked VERY carefully – rear-view, blind spot, rear-view … Before I got a chance to change lanes, I saw a black SUV coming up fast behind me. He pulled the same maneuver I did in the morning–without slowing, he went around me and all the cars in front of me.

I said out loud to John, “Oh well, I guess I’m not changing lanes yet,” and at the same time, John said, “Oh shit.”

What happened ahead of me when I was concentrating on my lane change was this:

  1. The light had gone green.
  2. The black SUV saw this and didn’t slow down.
  3. A car in the long line of cars in the right lane stopped to let someone pull out of the Dairy Queen driveway on the right.
  4. Bang.

Mad Paint Skillz Diagram 3

If that black SUV hadn’t cut me off, I’d have hit the twit who trusted the other twit to let him out of the DQ. John saw it coming before I did, though I might have seen it too because I’d have had my focus front-ways, but would I have seen it in time? I doubt it.

I also doubt the guy who got T-boned enjoyed his ice cream very much.

Close call number three was three times extremely lucky.

 

 


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EDDD 7 – Superstitious Feelin’

Superstitions are fun, aren’t they?

There are the old standbys, like not walking under a ladder (which is really common sense if you think about it), or the black cat crossing your path being bad luck. For good luck we have the found penny, though it seems to me there are fewer good luck superstitions than bad ones.

If you think of any more, leave them in the comments.

Anyway. The real reason for this post is to talk about the superstitions that run in families. Many of us have them I think.

Mine include:

  • if your hand itches: rub it on wood and it’s sure to be good, rub it on your ass and it’s sure to pass. This refers to good luck. Hey, there’s one!
  • lilies signify death. Don’t give them.
  • never seat 13 at the table – I’ve never known quite what to do if I actually have 12 guests. Then again, I’ve never had a table big enough. 😛
  • if you drop a knife, don’t pick it up yourself or you’ll have a bad surprise. When someone else picks it up for you, don’t say thank you, or they’ll have a bad surprise. So if you come to my house and there’s a knife on the floor, you’ll know why. And don’t expect any appreciation if you pick it up.  😉

What are some of yours?

 
Blog post of December 7th, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out!


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Serendipity

ser·en·dip·i·ty

noun \ˌser-ən-ˈdi-pə-tē\

: luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for

:  the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also :  an instance of this
The above is according to Merriam-Webster online.

The most notable instance of serendipity in my life was the meeting, for the second time, of my children’s father.

Luc and I first met when we worked together in Aurora, a small town just north of Toronto. He came into my workplace and asked for my boss. The first time I laid eyes on him I remember thinking to myself, “And what the fuck do you want?” It had been a hectic day, or so I tell myself twenty-eight years hence. I was, hours later, to find out that he was my new manager, and I thanked the heavens above that I hadn’t said out loud what I was thinking. We’ve laughed about it many times since.

Months passed, and he and I got along well. He’s a nice guy. Then he was transferred. A few weeks later I found out that he’d broken up with his girlfriend. I, too, had broken up with my boyfriend and was looking for a roommate. I offered, he refused. Shortly after he decided to go back to Montreal, to be close to family and we lost touch completely.

Seven years down the road found me living close to Ottawa. I’d been there for a couple of months and was heading back home to see my mom near Aurora and I stopped for gas. Luc was there, working at the pumps. It was serendipity – fate, if you will. A year later we moved into our own house and I was pregnant with our first son.

Three kids plus a few years later another seemingly serendipitous event occurred in my life. As it turned out, it wasn’t so lucky and my relationship with Luc ended. Perhaps it was fate, but if it was, I haven’t seen many benefits from it. I am single, yet again.

This all comes to mind because I met someone online, a couple of days ago, with whom I have a great deal in common. Whether it will continue into a lasting friendship or fizzle into nothing as these things sometimes do, remains to be seen. But for now it feels like fate.

We never know what fate will drop in our laps in the next instant. We can only hope to have great serendipitous events, that brighten our outlook, that give us hope for the future, and that help us to believe that maybe there is such a thing as good luck.

Serendipity can take us to important periods of our lives, which may seem to have been fated to happen. On the other hand it could be some little thing, like losing and then finding a piece of jewelry. Just about everything leads to something, right?

What is your best serendipitous event? I’d love to hear about it. If it’s really wonderful, why don’t you blog about it? Just please be sure to put a link in the comments here, so I don’t miss it.