Friday the 13th…bah! Bring on the superstitions! The fear of Friday the 13th has a scary scientific name in itself being called “paraskevidekatriaphobia”
No one really seems to know the origin of this fear according to Google, but more than likely, an unusually bad thing happened on that particular day and from then on the day got a bad rap.
Nine of my birthdays have landed on a Friday and I can’t recall the need for a diagnosis of paraskevedekatriaphobia. The first Friday the 13th of my life began as a 1 year old. Bad luck? I think not.
It was very good luck as a 7 year old to start 2nd Grade in Sister Cornelius’s class at Flush Grade School.
Starting Junior High on my 12th birthday is bad luck on whatever day your birthday falls. It’s Junior High after all.
My 18th birthday saw me just graduating from Westmoreland High School and beginning a college career at Cloud County Community College. A very good luck birthday that year. No details will be given.
My first baby was born 5 months prior to my 29th birthday. A sweet bundle of luck there.
My 35th birthday was spent with my 6th month old baby girl. Such precious good luck.
The 40th birthday was met with surprises as my end of the hallway classroom was decorated with (old) bats and every screen in the computer lab had my face on it. This Friday the 13th began the giving of myself the present of a day off, which brings us to the recent Friday the 13th with the library being closed. Selfish….yes. Unnecessary….yes. Silly….yes. Worth it…..you betcha’, celebrating with a small barbeque with my family and a few friends, and then spending a carefree lunch with 3 very important women in my life. One of them thinking that she be the one honored on each of her children’s birthdays being “the one giving birth, not the one birthed.”
There were a few patrons looking for scary movies to watch over this Friday the 13th weekend, which luckily brought them into the library, which luckily will bring them back to the library for returns, which keeps this wonderful library a lucky place to have available in this small town.
Cure your paraskevidekatriaphobia with a great scary book for October.
Happy Reading!