Loading ...tempting fate
My mother is one of those “You can do whatever you set your mind to” kind of people; it was a constant (occasionally annoying) refrain when I was a child. Our mom created an environment for my brother and me where elbow grease was better than anything you could get out of a bottle, luck was a byproduct of hard work and it wasn’t bragging if you could do it.
Filling out the cliché laden environment of my youth were a collection of arm’s-length superstitions and wives tales upon which my mother kept a wary eye. One need not walk under the ladder if going around is an option. All things otherwise equal, she figured, why tempt fate? My experiences in bridge (and lately baseball) convince me that caution is best: the fates governing competitions are capricious and fickle.
You’ve probably heard what happened to George in New York several years ago; what you’ve never heard is how guilty I felt after being so comfortable with my husband up 78 going into the 4th quarter of the Spingold Semi-final that I accepted congratulations from a few people I passed in the hall. I jinxed them. Honey, I’m sorry. Truly. Deeply. A valuable lesson: winning isn’t the same as won.
We’ve been on pins and needles watching the White Sox. Our favorite team has backed itself into a (hopefully brick, across town) wall and needed to win last night’s game in order to face Minnesota today in a sudden-death tiebreaker. Winner goes on to the playoffs, loser goes home. My Dear Husband knows exactly how deadly chicken counting can be, so he wouldn’t even open the envelope with the tiebreaker tickets until late last night; these are tense times for White Sox fans and George certainly doesn’t want to be the one to blow it for all of us.
This morning I’m rooting for the White Sox to be sure, but also for Justin to get a visa to go along with his haircut and uneventful travels for everyone heading to Beijing. I’ve had courtside seats for the pre-game and I can tell you my mother would definitely approve: the American Women (Sylvia Moss, Judi Radin, Janice Seamon-Molson, Tobi Sokolow, Marinesa Letizia, Mildred Breed, Sue Picus NPC) and Open (Nick Nickell, Richard Freeman, Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Bob Hamman, Chris Compton, Eric Kokish, Donna Compton NPC) teams have done a phenomenal amount of preparing and are ready to play. It occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve anticipated a World Championships and felt like any of these people were actually representing me. I guess I’ve finally become a bridge player.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Claudius just told me you kids won.
Sob. Sob. Sob.