Write about your earliest superstition.

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The earliest superstition I really remember dates from late elementary school. I always wondered and worried about what I was going to be when I grew up, as I wonder and worry about most things. I remember my blue bedroom in Michigan, the one with the butterfly covered comforter and primary colored polyester throw pillows. There was a big hawthorne tree outside the window,with a combination of brutal looking thorns and round red berries in clusters.

As I lay in that room in the dark at night, I used to fervently believe that if I could manage to fall asleep in a pose under the covers that was indicative of a particular profession, and I was still in that pose when I woke up in the morning, then clearly God was telling me I was naturally inclined towards that particular walk in life. Realistically, this didn’t bode well for any profession where I had to keep my arms out in front of me, so I can’t say that being a web programmer was ever on the short list. I mostly went for the more readily position-sterotyped professions. Ballerina, hurdle jumper, opera singer (picture the fat lady singing with one hand outstretched and the other dramatically at her throat), supermodel.

There was a darker edge to this particular superstition. I have always been a fetal sleeper, and I tend to tuck my hands up next to my face. However, I was terrified of falling asleep with my hands tucked across each other over my chest. You see, that’s how Dracula sleeps and how cartoon characters look when they’re lying in coffins, when you hear the eerie organ music in the background and they’re holding a single perky-looking daisy. So I was quite convinced that if I fell asleep in that pose, then there was a good chance I would never wake up again. There was more than one night where I kept determinedly uncrossing my arms, which seemed determined to keep creeping back up under my chin…

Incidentally, I can report that I had the most practice and probaby the best luck with ballerina poses. However, I’ll warn you that when sleeping in pirouette, avoid sleeping with your hands poised above your head. Second position will do you much better or the course of a night — I can remember a few mornings where my hands were so numb from a night of posing that I couldn’t feel my hands well enough to brush my teeth.