...superstitious?
How else to explain the fact that I received THREE chain emails this morning promising me luck, prosperity and the granting of wishes?
Money Angel
This is a money angel Pass it to 6 of your good friends, or family and be rich in 4 Days.
Pass it to 12 of your good friends or family and be rich in 2 Days.
I am not joking. You will find an unexpected windfall. If you delete it, you will never know!
SHE REALLY WORKS!!
I am ashamed to say that I passed one of the emails on to a few friends who I knew would not be irritated by it.
Like just about everyone else, the continuous barrage of bad economic news has made my anxiety level go sky-high.
It is getting to the point where I need to turn off the news. As long as I don't know that the Dow has hit its lowest mark since 1997, or AIG posted the largest corporate loss in history, or check what's left of my portfolio...
...I can go about just living my life: making my daughter's lunch, doing the laundry, driving her to school and gym. If I don't pay attention to the news, I can reflect on how nice it is to have a comfortable home in a nice neighborhood. I can appreciate my friends and family. I can be thankful that we all have our health.
As long as I can make like an ostrich and stick my head in the ground, I will be fine.
As long as my husband can hold on to his job, we will be fine.
As long as the woman who employs me as a virtual assistant has work for me to do, I can help make up for our budget shortfalls.
As long as we can resist slipping back into old spending habits, we have a chance of riding this out.
I am fortunate to have married an optimist. My husband is one of those people who always sees the cup as half-full, looks at crises as challenges, and rarely allows his determination to flag. Research shows that people like him live longer, healthier, happier lives.
This is good, because I will need him to take care of me when I get carted off to the asylum.
My upbringing taught me that fortunes can change in an instant and that your life can go to hell when you least expect it. Because of the way I grew up, I am never able to enjoy my life when times are good, because I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The misfortunes of my childhood have been a driving factor in the way I've raised my own daughter. I was a lonely, friendless, unhappy kid and a mess of a teenager.
It did not help that the year I turned 13, my dad lost his job - and as a result, we had to sell our four-bedroom house and move into a two-bedroom apartment while he rebuilt his career.
Nobody suffered physically from these changes. We continued to eat three square meals a day, kept a roof over our heads and stayed healthy -- but it took an emotional toll on all of us.
I have spent my time as a mother trying to make sure my kid doesn't grow up with the same problems I had, and so far, I've done a good job. She's secure, confident, successful and happy -- and has lots of friends at school and gym.
But now, we have this global economic disaster, just as she's hitting 13. Everything is spiraling out of control, and I'm afraid that my worst nightmares are coming true.
So I think twice before I delete emails that promise good luck if I don't break the chain. And while I don't believe in their magic, I can't help but dream of the miracle of a financial windfall that might give me some elusive peace of mind.
Excuse me now. I need to buy a lottery ticket.
For Local Blog
