Friday the 13th. An unlucky day? I’m not so sure.

You know the story of the Chinese peasant farmer whose only son was thrown by a wild horse and badly injured? Downright unlucky, wouldn’t you say? The farmer’s wife thought so. She was beside herself lamenting the family’s misfortune. Neighbors gathered to commiserated, “How unfortunate!” they said. The injured son’s response was not recorded, but the farmer was philosophical (as fictional peasant farmers often are) “Fortunate or unfortunate. I don’t know. Let’s wait and see.”

Two days later the Emporer’s soldiers came by with orders to draft all able-bodied men into the army. But because the farmer’s son was still nursing several broken bones, he got a pass. The farmer’s wife was ecstatic. “How fortunate we are!” The neighbors, most of whose sons had been conscripted, once again agreed, “Yes, you are very fortunate.”

But the farmer, wasn’t ready to weigh in. All he said was, “Fortunate or unfortunate. Don’t know. Let’s wait and see.”

Maybe you get where this is going. If you want to take the trip anyway read the rest of the story.

I don’t believe in luck. Stuff happens. We can’t know how it’s going to turn out.
Like today, for instance: My neighbor called to ask me to please take in her mail while she’s away. I said, “Sure thing.” And she probably thought, “How fortunate!” To show her gratitude she said, “I’ve just made brownies. On our way out, I’ll leave some inside your gate.” I thanked her and thought, “How fortunate!” And that’s all I thought, until…..

Some time later, my writing was interrupted by a CRUNCHING sound coming from the living room. I continued writing until a moment later when the sound intruded a second time. Upon investigating I found Gracie, our 5 month old puppy, chomping on a plastic lid. I got it away from her thinking, “Lucky I heard that. She could have swallowed those piece!”

As I was tossing out the bits of chewed up Tupperware I realized where little Gracie snagged that lid from. Racing downstairs to the gate, I saw… nothing in the spot where the brownies should have been!

Yikes! Dogs. Chocolate. Toxic. Double YIKES!!

It is now about 2 and a half hours later. Our puppy made a trip to the vet, where vomiting was induced. Then they gave her another drug to stop the vomiting. Plus intravenous fluids to keep her hydrated. The vet said she ate a lot of chocolate and it was a really good thing… a very fortunate thing, that I quickly put dog+chocolate together and got EMERGENCY.

Is it unfortunate that we’re not eating brownies for dessert tonight? I don’t think so.
Gracie is fine, so we’re fine.
Happy Friday the 13th.