“I have only one superstition. I touch all the bases when I make a home run.” ~Babe Ruth
I will admit to having one…or maybe two…superstitions. No, I don’t throw spilled salt over my left shoulder, nor do I open all the doors and windows at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve to let the old year out and the new year in. Truthfully, I haven’t seen a New Year’s Eve midnight in several years, and besides, it is usually too cold here in northern Minnesota for all that nonsense. I do hang on to a few old nursing superstitions: Never use or let anybody else use the “Q” word during your shift. My fellow nurses cringe at the sound of that word, but since I am not at work I feel comfortable in using the example of “Gee, it sure is QUIET around here!” That most certainly means that the shift will go to Helsinki in a handbasket, and in a hurry, too. Another nursing superstition is that death comes in threes. Sadly, I have seen that one come true more than once, especially in my old ICU days. There are plenty of New Year’s superstitions all over the world. Did you know that kissing your sweetheart as the clock strikes midnight means you will have a loving and happy year? My sweetheart was in warm and sunny Florida for the holiday, and since I was sound asleep here in the frozen tundra, I didn’t notice if Barney gave me any puppy dog kisses or not. In Italy, folks throw old things out the window to make room for the new. Here at home, I cleaned out cupboards and came up with a big plastic tote filled with unused stuff and hauled it to the garage rather than throwing it out the window. Living in the south for many years, I learned that black-eyed peas cooked with a ham hock and served with greens would bring good luck and prosperity, but I also learned that my Kentucky born and bred husband hated black-eyed peas and rarely ate greens, no matter how prosperous he could become. I guess we were prosperous in a way, because there were always plenty of leftovers for me to take to work and hopefully, I would get a lunch break unless someone used that nasty “Q” word. The Pennsylvania Dutch often ate pork with sauerkraut on New Year’s day. Why sauerkraut? Because cabbage leaves signify money and prosperity, and sauerkraut is made from cabbage, and also the because the Pennsylvania Dutch are not Dutch, but of German descent. That makes about as much sense as not allowing a cross-eyed person, someone with a unibrow, or someone with flat feet to be the first person to step across your threshold in the new year. Even though it defies my sense of logic, I ate lots of bacon for breakfast and had leftover coleslaw for lunch. Hopefully, my right palm will begin to itch and that means that money will be coming my way. You never know.
The Minnesota Farm Woman 