Threes

Bad things happen in threes, a true statement that makes absolutely no logical sense whatsoever. Most people I know have at least one, if not several stories about it. It’s global. Ask anyone. I never knew why it’s a thing, but I may have figured it out! Belief can be powerful.

We recently encountered a winter storm here in Minnesota, which is almost a daily occurrence for 7 months of the year. It showed up with fluffy snow, followed by sleet and rain and everything froze, making roads and sidewalks treacherous. Three days ago, I rode the city bus back home from Minneapolis after seeing a live band performance; I may have had an adult beverage or possibly two. I approached the front steps of my home, stepped up on the snow and ice-covered stairs, and realized it was extremely slippery. I was off-balance and about to slip off of our front steps. (We have no railing, I hear about it often) I awkwardly attempted to grab at the handle of the front door to keep myself upright. Somehow, only a single pointer finger found the handle. Attempting to hold my 180-pound self in place with that lone finger, I bent that sucker back way more than it ought to go. I yelled, it really hurt, it eventually swelled and bruised, but I did not fall off the stoop into the hedges. (In retrospect, the hedges may have hurt less). Significantly spraining my right index finger on our front door handle, was number one.

Late the following afternoon, I got in my car and drove to our nearest Costco to fill up our car with gas and do some necessary big-box shopping chores. I knew the gas gauge on my car was on E, but I also knew I had enough gas to get me where I wanted to go. What I didn’t know was that my wife also drove the car on E for a period of time the day before. Within visual distance of the gas station within a very busy intersection, the car sputters out, will not start, it’s out of gas. (Insert expletive here!) I turned on my 4-way flashers and proceeded to direct cars around me, madly waving my hands out my window for cars to go around me. By the way, when someone has their 4-ways on in an intersection, it usually means the car is stuck or disabled in some way. It does not mean I am taking a right, having a car party, or phone surfing. Why would you honk or yell at me? Anyway, I did not want to leave my car alone in an intersection, that would not go well. The car would be towed to who knows where and it would cost who knows how much. I expeditiously called my wife to relay the story, she apologized about the gas gauge, she sped her way with my daughter’s car to the big box hardware store, buys a gas can, fills it up at the big box gas station, brings it to me. She saved the day!  I put enough gas in the car to get it running, thank you, Katy! No harm, no foul, all good. Running out of gas, was number two.

I continued on my way to the gas station to fill up my car, and fill up my cart with economically correct purchases at Costco. I am almost home, and I suddenly realize I am going way too fast to negotiate a very sharp turn in my neighborhood and a very slick roadway, and my car skids very straight and very gracefully into a giant, and luckily soft and billowy snowbank. I missed a tree by just a few inches. I haven’t been in a car accident since a deer ran into my car 20 years ago! Totally my bad, and now my car is very stuck.  Somewhat embarrassed, I start digging my car out, and a lovely and typically friendly Minnesotan type person stops and helps me dig, push, and unstick my stuck car. Thank you!!! I get home, tell my wife and kids the stuck story. They later convey they were all intently watching me, to see what else would happen because they know that bad things happen in threes.

To be clear, this is not about 3 celebrities dying in the same week, although that does seem to happen as well. That seems a bit more coincidental to me. My motivation for this pursuit is more on a personal level, and I have been contemplating logical reasons for this phenomenon. Do we have periods of time in our lives when we are not at our best and bad juju surrounds us? Does it happen when we are sleep deprived?. Or is it just a thing, a force in the universe? My parents in New Jersey used the term, I use it, my wife and her relatives from Minnesota use it, my friend says it’s a thing in the Netherlands. Sorry, it’s real, and it happens everywhere.

In the midst of writing this article, I came to the conclusion that we self-prophesize these incidents to happen because of belief! It’s true. The power of believing is very powerful. Think about this. You get the idea that you want to learn how to play the guitar. So, first things first, you will need to acquire a guitar. You just set non-stop wheels in motion with that single thought. You start thinking about guitars, you begin looking at guitars, and all of a sudden, guitars are everywhere! You see them in newspaper ads, in your friend’s living room, in pop-up ads, and in your dreams. Then you start visiting the guitar stores. You start looking on Craigslist and find the one that caught your eye in the store... for 300 bucks less than retail in almost perfect condition. Hell yeah. It’s still available. Boom, done, here’s the cash, the guitar is yours! You set the wheels in motion with a single thought and bang, you own a guitar.

Sub-consciously, we will this shit to happen. Something bad happens, and not only are we waiting for the next thing, we know it will happen, we believe it will happen and it does! It’s conceivable that bad things just happen all the time, and we happen to notice the last three disasters that took place, but I’m not buying it. Bad things don’t happen all the time, it does not really play out if you observe the phenomena closely.

Bad things happen in 3’s, this is self-prophesy, we do it to ourselves. I never knew it. I now truly believe it is our subconscious mind, directing us to fuck up! People tell me all the time that what you believe will happen, happens, and it usually does. If you have a positive outlook, positive things will happen. Well, I am choosing a new mindset...bad things happen in zeroes and the Minnesota Twins will play with fans in the seats this year! Boom! Done, I’m good.