Lucky Charms (Magically Superstitious)

Surprise! This blog is about cereal. Magically delicious, right? (You gotta click on that last link. Come on.)

Just kidding. This blog post isn't about Lucky Charms. It's about lucky charms. Professors don't wear cereal, but we do sometimes wear lucky charms to help us get through the day. Today I thought that I might need a lucky charm--a little something to help all of my first-years come to their meetings with me. Guess what! It worked. They did. A first. At no point in the semester have all of the freshmen even come to class on the same day. Wow.

Maybe you don't believe in lucky charms. Maybe you think it's only superstition, and you aren't the superstitious type. I am--the superstitious kind, that is. I was raised to be superstitious. Don't walk under that ladder! Don't open that umbrella indoors! Don't put on your left shoe first! My mom told me many more "don't" maxims of this kind. She also instilled in me a belief of luck. She would say, "If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all!" As pessimistic as that sounds, she also believes in good luck charms, and I do, too. Some people have a lucky coin they carry about (lucky penny?). Some carry a rabbit's foot (a charm I never carried because ew). Some have lucky drawers/underwear (I'm lookin' at you, Fresh Prince of Bel Air). People find conventional symbols to endorse. People find their own personal ones.

I have a lot of things I have considered "lucky" charms, such as two larimar pendants I got in the Dominican Republic. Larimar's symbolic of tranquility, which I totally need. I also have this horseshoe ring. It's a piece of costume jewelry my mom bought me about 7 or 8 years ago. I wear it sometimes when I think that I might need a little something extra to get me through the day.

The horseshoe is one of those cliched symbols of good luck. It's symbolic of protection and good will in many cultures. Just ask Saint Dunstan, who bested the Devil with one. Some people claim that there is a right and wrong way to wear a horseshoe charm. Up or down? Up = hold in the luck? Down = it pours out? I tend to wear mine facing me. Holding it all in! :)

If you are so inclined, think about a good luck charm that is special to you. Here's a word to the wise, though. You can't wear it every day, or else it isn't going to work. You can't have good luck every day. That's just life. ;)