Thirteen

It’s Friday the 13th and I'm loaded up with black cats and a near complete lack of superstition.

Merriam Webster tells me that superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.

Is Friday the 13th unlucky? A bunch of truly nasty shit’s happened on this day/date combo, like:

• the German bombing of Buckingham Palace in September of 1940.

• Kitty Genovese's murder in Kew Gardens in March of 1964

“For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens,” it began.
“Twice the sound of their voices and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights interrupted him and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her out and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead.” (source)

• a cyclone killed more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh in November of 1970.
  

But bad shit can and does happen on every other calendar day and number.

I’ve often said that I’m lucky. Lucky that I’ve such good, loving and supportive friends. Lucky to have had The Amazing Bob in my life for 30+ years. Lucky to have Ten in my life. Lucky to live in Valhalla. Lucky to have the best neurologists and neurosurgeons for my weird ass rare illness. Lucky to have a gig that I enjoy which gives me the time and brain space to do all the creative shit that I so dig.

But, to be real and honest, I don’t actually believe in luck…much. My ability to learn from my mistakes and grow beyond them, the choices I’ve made, my willingness to take semi-carefully considered leaps into the void, have a shit-ton more to do with how well my life’s turned out....I think.

I may've mentioned a time or two before, I'm agnostic. I don't believe but I don't not believe. God and luck may exist but my faith, or lack thereof, in either is not gonna move the ball downfield any faster.

Could things be better? Sure but, all in all, I’m one reasonably happy motherfucker. Mountains of dough, fame and easy adulation were never on my list of MUST haves. Mind you, I wouldn’t shut the door on any of those but, to date, they've not came a knockin' and I haven't been into the hunt either.

Gotta say, the future looks a hell of a lot brighter now that the Tantrum Toddler’s headed for history’s dumpster.

What is the point of this story
What information pertains
The thought that life could be better
Is woven indelibly
Into our hearts and our brains
Train in the Distance – Paul Simon