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August 13, 2010

The power of 13

Randy Cowling Managing Editor

CLAREMORE — No need to worry. Today has been a great day with no dark clouds hovering above.

For some Friday the 13th is a spooky and challenging day. Believe in superstition is just not worth all the anxiety. Being one who was born on the 13th (it was a Wednesday) I have a different take on all the hooplas associated with what some characterize as a dark day. There is no triskaidekaphobia in my DNA. It’s the phobic name for being afraid of the number 13 and specifically Friday the 13th.

Recently, I was digging through some of my mother’s photo albums. She was homecoming queen her senior year of high school. In the photo where the football players placed the crown on her head the date jumped out at me.

November 13, 1953 — it was a sign. That date was four years to the day before I would come along as her firstborn. It was a “13 Connection.” But the reach of 13 didn’t stop with the homecoming photograph.

My mother grew up in southwest Arkansas in a four-room house - 2 bedrooms, a living area and a kitchen. It wasn’t until the late 1950s did they run a water line into the house from the well. My mother’s family never had an indoor bathroom. No shower, no bathtub, only the sink in the kitchen.

This wasn’t uncommon for her era. But when you think she had 13 siblings, it makes you wonder how the girls prepared for school. My mother was number 13 in the family. It’s another “13 Connection.” I guess that’s why she never made a big deal about me being born on the 13th, because she had some link to the number.

One of the most popular and famous superstition is the unlucky Friday the 13th. Jesus was crucified on Friday and the “Last Supper” had a total of 13 people around the table. Another legend associated with this tradition goes that the Knights Templar were routed and killed by the opposing forces on Friday the 13th.

All the hub-bub surrounding 13 is purely based on people facing the unknown or who are attempting to explain a circumstance on Friday the 13th. For me and my household, 13 has power. It links one generation to the next and that is all that matters to me.

Randy Cowling is editor of the Claremore Daily Progress. 

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