Sometimes being a realist takes the fun out of things.

I really love a good coincidence but when superstitions come true, I can’t help but think to myself, well that was actually just a coincidence.

When I was in about Grade 6, I traveled out west with my best friend’s parents and her little sister. My best friend wasn’t along for some reason but my Dad had arranged for me to jump in with these nice people and get dropped off, two provinces away and a full day’s drive, at my grandparents.

I do remember that it was a Friday the 13th and I do remember seeing a black cat cross the road in front of us as we got to the little town my grandparents lived in, Munson, Alberta.

Well Munson Alberta and all of southern Alberta got the storm of storms that night. I don’t think there was any snow on the ground the hour I arrived, it was maybe just starting to snow but when we woke up in the morning, there was so much snow against the front door, we couldn’t get out.

One of those big, freak, spring snowstorms. I remember people in the town helping each other shovel out for days it seemed, and I was a little bummed because I was hoping to do fun stuff but all anyone was doing was digging out from that storm.

So there, Friday the 13th and a black cat. What more proof do you need. I believed for years that storm happened because of those two factors.

Looking back I feel it was all a coincidence.

Nowadays my superstitions parallel paranoia I think. I worry that if you talk about something too much, it will happen. Also, if you talk about something NOT happening, it will happen.

Last night Clint was saying we are both lucky to still have our parents, his and mine. Not that they are that old (all four are mid-seventies), but just because so many people grow up without or lose them when they’re young. I agreed but then was hoping he’d drop the subject because I do feel had we gone on and on about it, that one day very very soon, we no longer have all four of them.

It’s kind of like that ‘never say never’ saying. If you say never, you’re bound to eat your words. So choose them wisely.