Oddness
My husband and I used to have a sort of superstition: the even numbered years were not as kind to us as the odd ones. We were married in 1973, our move to The North Country took place in January of 1975 (following a hellaceous family court battle with my ex-husband in 1974), and it was the beginning of a much better life for our little family. Our son was born in 1977 (I had been diagnosed "sterile" during the preceeding even-numbered year). Memories are hazy now, and I've forgotten the exact dates of the ups and the downs, but suffice it to say that there were reasons for us to speak "jokingly" about our little superstition.
Others have held similar opinion: “The god delights in an odd number,” wrote Virgil, and Pliny the Elder then wondered, “Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?” Shakespeare even weighed in: “There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death,” and a fellow named Samuel Lover [1797-1868] wrote this:
‘That’s eight times today that you’ve kissed me before.’
‘Then here goes another,’ says he, ‘to make sure,
For there’s luck in odd numbers,’ says Rory O’More
For us, years passed, and with their passing went our distinction between even and odd. Life was life, giving us blessings and occasional trials, and Life seemed to have lost track of year numbers. I wouldn't have thought about our old superstition except for the fact that last year was '06 (bless its even-ness...) the year of giardia lambia, a close-to-deadly fall down my cellar stairs, a 43 spider-bite-night, and the reoccurrence of my daughter's seizures (after a 36-year hiatus) - all within a three-month period in the last half of the year. There were some good times and good things too, but this cluster of negative events has me looking forward to 2007 for its odd promise.
And so I say, bring on 2007 - and may the odds be good for each of you and your families.
Happy New Year!
8 comments:
About living life off the beaten path. That's not a bad way to go. when You travel the same path as everyone else, you only see and experience what everyone else does. being off the beaten path means that you see and experience things that not many are brave enough to see.
My favorite slogan is: When all the world goes one way, I go the other.
I too am looking forward to a better year in 2007. Onward and upward!
“There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death”
Freaky.
My wife has experienced death in her father's side of the family (immediate and extended) that always fall under every odd year since the 70s. And it has been consistent eversince!
Just last year (around June), one of her aunts was diagnosed of lung cancer and the doctors told her that she only has 2 to 3 months to live. But she's still hanging on up to now.
Now she's gone terminal and the doctors are predicting two-to-three weeks, a month tops before she finally gives up the fight.
That's why this year, we're all praying that the record (or curse) will be broken.
For good.
I'm not superstitious, or so I tell everyone. The fact is that life is full of odd little quirks that fit so nicely into such beliefs, so who am I to say it ain't so? Seven has always been lucky to me (ever since the commune gave it to me as a nickname) so this will be a very good year, right?
Happy New Year to you again, my friend. May tradition hold true!
You know what? Now that I think about it my life has had the odd/even thing going on with it too. Weird! I just hope the first day is no indication of how my year is going to go. My apt. flooded again at 1AM.
So much for my four-leaf clover collection.
Happy New Odd Year!
You know I hope only for the best when it comes to you and your loved ones.
I look forward to the new year with my blogging buddies.
Well, I've heard that the odd-numbered STAR TREK movies were better than the even numbered ones...
Hope that helps prove your theory in some small way.
Post a Comment