Embrace Your Inner 13!

We're going to have an entire year that holds this number, so if you've got triskaidekaphobia (extreme superstition regarding the number thirteen), read this! For years, multi-floor builders and airlines and countless other customer-facing businesses have worked around the number 13. But now we can't ignore the fact that every single day this year will have a 13 in it. (There are two additional challenges for triskaidekaphobics, too: on Friday, September 13, 2013 and      
Friday, December 13, 2013!)    

There's no stopping it - we have got to find a way to love 13! If you're Italian, or want to adopt one of the aspects of this amazing culture - which I just happen to be a bit partial to - you'd know that 13 is considered very lucky. I knowingly bought a condo on the 13th floor of a building (can't fool me - even though my address says it's on the 14th floor, the elevator doesn't stop between 12 and 14). It's been a place of beauty, peace and joy for me - not a speck of bad luck in the place. Give me a good old 13 any time, and I'll find the luck in it.

Don't forget that the American flag has 13 stripes in honor of the first 13 colonies. Colgate University has positive roots in the number 13, too - according to Wikipedia, the school was "founded in 1819 by 13 men with 13 dollars, 13 prayers and 13 articles."  And remember how exhilarating it was to move from twelve to earn the magical "teen" on your age? 

I'm more interested in what this year brings me than what it might take away. I know that I may feel a little differently in a few weeks, a little less exhilarated when I'm back to a routine that isn't broken up by holidays and celebrations. But for now, I'm reveling in the start of a shiny new year that makes me feel totally loving and hopeful. I'm going to take full advantage of this feeling to tell my friends and family something I don't say enough: you make a profound difference in my life - you really do. I'm embracing my inner 13, and wishing you a year that is spectacularly surprising, productive, delightful, connected, compassionate, warm, purposeful, enriching, educational and healthy.

(Still having trouble with the number? Feel free to pretend you're Italian for the next 12 months.)