Jinxed

Friday was the third annual No Diabetes Day, organized by my terrific friend George to give us a bit of a break from diabetes chatter and to encourage us to share other parts of our lives.  I didn’t quite get my post finished in time because I was busy all day with my first Promise Meeting (more on that coming soon).  But I didn’t want to miss the No D Day fun, so I’m stretching the celebration a bit and posting today.


I bet you never knew that I’m jinxed.  Not in a horrific, terrible, rotten life kind of way.  But in an “oh my goodness the weirdest things happen to me ” kind of way.  It’s true - my life is one big Murphy’s Law.

Like way back in high school, in junior year.  That popular guy in the senior class, that gorgeous hunk on the football team that every school has . . . . . . dropped his lunch on me.  Mind you, I don’t mean his sandwich bounced cheerily off my arm.  I mean he dropped his tray, his tray that contained the standard cool kid lunch of pizza and french fries (with plenty of ketchup), over my shoulder and down both my back and my front.  I was so taken by surprise that I stood up and froze, as the entire lunch room turned to stare.  He muttered an apology as I ran to the ladies room.  He then apologized to my entire lunch table.   It would’ve made a really cute story if he ended up taking me to prom and we married and had beautiful children . . . . . but in reality our paths never crossed again.  (Which I'm actually very glad about!)

But the best example of my mega-jinxiness probably has to do with jury duty.  I know people who have never gotten called for jury duty - but not me.  I get called every three years like clockwork.  In fact, I’ve been called more often and had to remind them that it wasn’t yet time for me to serve again.  I’ve also received summons to both my married and maiden names, and had to remind them that I’m just one person.

The thing I dislike about jury duty is that it’s kind of a drag, but I could live with that.  I'm also not keen on the fact that I always get questioned for the scary criminal cases, like a stabbing of a girlfriend or sexual assault on a minor, but it is jury duty so what can you expect.  The worse thing about jury duty is the courthouse I have to report to.  It’s in one of the most dangerous cities in the state.  I’m always very nervous about going there, but one of the first few times I was called my mom tried to reassure me.  “Oh Karen, don’t be silly!” she said.  “During the day it is completely safe, the offices are all open and there are nothing but businesspeople around.”  So off I went to fulfill my civic obligation.

It was a quiet morning and I got a lot of knitting done while I waited to be questioned.  (Uninterrupted knitting time is the bright side of jury duty, for sure!!)  When we were dismissed for an hour lunch, I decided to hit the closest food option, the McDonalds a few doors down.  As I was walking back with my take-out I contemplated eating my lunch on the courthouse steps to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine of the day, but at the last minute I decided to just head back to the jury room to eat so I could be sure to be back on time.  Little did I know what an excellent decision that was!

As I was finishing lunch and getting ready to resume knitting, we suddenly heard what sounded like gun-fire.  We would-be jurors rushed to the window in time to see a policeman chasing someone.  He caught up with him right across the street from the courthouse and we watched as the perp was apprehended all CSI style.  The noise we heard HAD been gun-fire - someone had been shot at a lunch place up the street.  Many of the people serving jury duty were there ordering their lunches.  Lucky them (note the sarcasm), they got excused from serving for the rest of the day and were taken to the station to serve as witnesses to the shooting. Okay, okay,  I suppose if I was really jinxed, I would have been one of those witnesses, so I really can’t complain too much.  But my whole jury duty experience was unlike any I’ve ever heard of before!!

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This post is dedicated to my godfather, Uncle Joe, who was the subject of last year’s No D Day post.  We lost him just two and a half weeks ago, on September 22nd.  I love you, Uncle Joe.