Thursday, October 06, 2016

one weird thing

No, not clickbait, I hope.

But here's one weird little thing about my psyche: I still, somewhere in my person, still believe in making wishes - as in, I kinda-sorta believe they will come true. I haven't wished on the evening star in a long, long time (though it's a good one for long wishes, as it's not going anywhere, and you don't have to be fast, like with a shooting star and saying "Money before the week's out" three times before it disappears).

And it's been a long time since I saw a white horse, but supposedly tradition says you can wish on them, too.

I also found a four-leafed clover ONCE in my life but I admit I keep looking.

And eyelashes - what I learned was, when one fell out (naturally! Not pulling any, that hurts!) you put it on the back of your hand, closed your eyes, made a wish, and blew hard - if the eyelash was gone when you opened your eyes, "it has gone to fulfill your wish"

A lot of those I learned from a little book I got from somewhere - my mom may have gotten it from a book club she belonged to - about making wishes. (It was a little green book with a wishbone embossed on the cover. I THINK it was called "Making Wishes" but I don't remember the compiler. It would have come out in the early 1970s some time.

A little tradition that came up when I was a tween/teen - if you were wearing a pendant or necklace, and the clasp works its way around to the front, you can make a wish as you move it back around to the back. (That was common in my high school, for some reason). I don't know if anyone else had ever heard of that, or if that was a very localized thing where I grew up.

Anyway. Today my pendant had its clasp work around to the front and I didn't feel like I could stop, close my eyes, make a wish, and move it....and by the time I had a moment, it had worked back to its place. And I actually felt DISAPPOINTED! that I had been cheated out of my wish.

(Yes, I am 47 and a scientist, and yet, like I said, I still kinda-sorta believe in making wishes. Brains are funny things.)

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