Grasshopper No.3 has a birthday today. If he lives to be as old as Nana, he hasn’t lived half his life yet. Happy Birthday No.3.
Last Thursday I got the stitches removed from the facial basal cell procedure (14 stitches I counted as the nurse cut them out). Yesterday, I had a second procedure on my shoulder and I’m sure there are at least 14 more stitches. So now I have to be on good behavior for two weeks until the new stitches are taken out. The bottom line is I can’t sleep on my right side because of my face, I can’t sleep on my left side because of my shoulder and I can’t sleep on my back because the shoulder hurts. All that is left is sleeping on my head or on my ass.
I try not to be superstitious but my mother conditioned me with enough voodoo to scar me for life. Things like “if a bird flies into your window at home, someone in the family is going to die”. If that is true, all my relatives would be dead. Or “everything happens in threes”. Or if you find a penny and it is “face-up”, someone from “beyond” is watching you. Of course, some things are just plain luck.
I figured I was on a roll last Thursday. I found a nickel on the sidewalk and the coin was face up. That is five times better than a penny. Surely it was devine guidance from above. The exhuberance of finding the coin encouraged me to make a bet with Grasshopper No.3 and Grasshopper No.4 on the Super Bowl. Not big money but I was sure I would win a couple of bucks. With the winnings from the Super Bowl, I planned to buy a $2 ticket on a PowerBall. After winning PowerBall, I would be on easy street and give most of the money to my kids. Can the story get any better?
Somehow my luck changed. I lost the nickel! Maybe that was an omen. I lost the SuperBowl bets so not only couldn’t I buy a PowerBall ticket, I had to dig deep to pay off my bets. Sh–!
The nickel was supposed to be the start of something great. Both my Dad and Mom would be capable of joking with me from “afar”. You know, give him a nickel and watch how it plays out. But I am not superstitious so none of this stuff could have happened anyway.
But you never know. Maybe the next nickel will launch me into something great.
Love,
Dad