So I'm reading this book, "The Kitchen God's Wife", by Amy Tan. I am surprised at how much I like it. Well, that's not entirely true. I once read "The Joy Luck Club" by the same author and THAT book surprised me. When I saw this book (for .50 at the library book sale), I was pretty sure I'd like it based on my previous experience with Ms. Tan. But I digress......
This is basically a book about a mother-daughter relationship and family secrets. Hmmm, mother-daughter and secrets....... Anyway, I'm still early-on in the book; but an interesting thing was mentioned and got me thinking.
She says (Pearl, the character of the daughter, not Amy Tan) that her mother believes (her mother the character, not her REAL mother) that you should always be on the look-out for bad things that happen. You should count these bad things because the ninth one will kill you. Now, she mentions that it is generally easier to look back after the death and identify those eight bad things that should have warned you but you ignored. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, right?
She talks about her husband's death and can clearly see (after the fact) the eight 'warning bad things'. And because I have nothing better to occupy my mind, I started thinking of bad things in my own life. Wonder if I should worry.
Here are a few, so if I die.....
1. My parents divorce: Not sure if this counts as a bad thing, though. I think their divorce was a good thing for my family; but the ensuing years of crap were not. Was that a result of the divorce? Would it have been there anyway? Is this really something 'bad' that happened to me, or to my family? If it's a 'bad' thing that happened to my family, do I get to count it as one of my 'bad' things?
2. My sister broke her neck: Now this didn't happen directly to me; but, it affected me since I was with her and felt guilty for years and years afterward. I was standing right behind her, as a matter of fact, and it could/should have been me. Again, not sure if this 'counts'.
3. My discovery of boys: My high-school focus changed from getting good grades (honor society) to boys. This caused my grades to drop dramatically, and getting-by in school was enough for me. Is this a 'bad' thing? Well, I'd be pissed if my kids did it so it'd be 'bad' for THEM! Let's see, what if I didn't change my focus - where would my life be? Well, I'd have probably gone to college immediatly after high school. If I did that, I probably wouldn't have married Mark and gone on to have four of the best kids in the world. So maybe this wasn't a 'bad' thing. Maybe this was actually a blessing. Forget this one.
3. Broken Wrist: I fell putting the kids into the car to take them to daycare. Slipped right in my driveway and then jumped up like an ass hoping no one saw me. Priorities, you know. Broke two bones in my right (of course) wrist. But.... the day I did this, I had a job interview. Didn't want to miss it, so I went into work anyway (it was for an internal position). When I went for the interview, I told her I was unable to shake hands because I had fallen and broken my wrist. I was planning on going to the orthopod right after the interview to get myself a cast. I was told to get the hell out and go to the doctor right then. I'm a nurse and I knew I had 24 hrs and that nothing was displaced. I wasn't freaking out, but my interviewer was. She promised me a later appointment if I would just go then. I did, got my cast, had the interview, and got the job! Oops! Another blessing in disguise! Forget this one too.
You know, I could go on and on but I just realized that no bad things have EVER happened to me. I am a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason". Sometimes, when something happens that I think is bad, it usually turns out to be a blessing.
WOW! I still have eight bad things that can happen to me before the ninth (the 'killing' one). hehe Good thing I don't believe in that...
xoxo
http://www.teenink.com/Past/9899/June/Books/KitchenGod.html
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