Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

I'm not a superstitious person. I walk under ladders, I don't "knock on wood", I open umbrellas indoors, but there is one little thing that I must do on the first day of every month or else all hell breaks loose.

My third grade music teacer, Mrs. VanSickle (no I didn't make that up) cursed me by telling me and the other impressionable eight year-olds that on the first day of each month, the first thing you say in the morning right after you wake up should be "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" and then you'll have good luck all month long. Now, Mrs. VanSickle also taught me how to play the recorder and sing silly songs, none of which I can remember twenty-two years later, but "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" has stayed with me these many years. I've even brainwashed my husband into doing it. I usually wake up, roll over, look at him and say "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit". He says it back and then we bicker about who has to get up and go make coffee. This has become normal. I have succeeded in passing along the curse. Nearly every month for the past twenty-two years, I've said "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" on the first of each month. Except for this month.

This month, on Monday May 1st, I woke up early and took Molly for a walk, making sure not to say anything. I figured that Luke generally plays along with the "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" thing but at 5:45 in the morning, he might not be so accomodating so I was planning to hit him up with it when we got back from our walk. We ventured down to the river, Molly frolicked and swam and chased the birds, I whistled to signal that we were heading back (because whistling doesn't actually count as talking) and we went back to the house. When Molly ran straight to the door without me having to whistle again, like usual, I was so happy that I just said "GOOD GIRL!" ...and then a sharp intake of breath - oh crap - I didn't say "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit"!

Gloomily, I went in the house, knowing that I was now doomed for the rest of the month - my BIRTHDAY month - and I went to see if Luke was up and said the standard "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" then told him what happened. He laughted, because he thinks I'm crazy already, and we went on with our days. I headed over to Max Downtown before work to fix their chalkboard again, then as I was walking back to my car, the curse of the rabbit hit me like a ton of bricks - I had a back spasm. Crap. I managed to cram myself into my car and tried to breathe through the spasm as I called work to say I was going home to lay on an ice pack. I drove home and hobbled inside, made an appointment with the chiropractor and cursed that Mrs. VanSickle. This is all her fault.

I've been out of work and away from the Internet for three days now. I came to work today, partially to do some work, but really to check my email and catch up on the blogs I haven't been reading. I was starting to feel twitchy. I can't go that long without going online! The real kicker is that we just put the new floor down in my office and had to move the computer out. If I was desperate enough, I could have put it back together and gone online from home except for the fact that the darn thing weighs a ton and right now, carrying my purse and a bottle of water at the same time is a little more than I can take. I've missed you internet. I'll file this under reason #679 that I should have bought a laptop.