Monday the Thirteenth

Who remembers the comic strip Garfield? No? I’m not judging you, but you might be in the wrong place.

Garfield is a plump orange cat with whom I have a significant amount in common. He loves naps, lasagna and sarcasm. He is considered ‘a lot’ by his family and friends. He hates exercise, clothes with no cat hair on them, and Mondays.

Especially Mondays.

Today is a Monday and it is also the 13th of the month, and I occurred to me that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky but Monday the 13th is fine. I did a little research (rabbit hole, meet CJ) and found that 13 is considered unlucky for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that in Christianity, Jesus was betrayed by his 13th disciple, Judas.

And it turns out that Fridays were considered unfortunate in the UK because traditionally Friday was the day for public hangings (and whether it’s in public or not, it’s hard to argue that being hung is great luck). But frankly, Fridays are the on-ramp to the weekend. Fridays have potential. Nobody has ever said "Thank God it's Monday."

But Mondays are the worst. After a lovely weekend of getting to do more of what you want to do (watching HRFP do yard work), you have to dive into the uncomfortable work-a-day world of doing what other people want you to do. School, work, and going to the DMV are all weekday activities. There are lots of examples of Mondays also being the date of tragedies like “Black Monday” in 1987 when the Dow fell 22%, or the Beer flood in London in 1814 (which sounds more like fun than it actually was). But there has never been a cultural connection so we are stuck with Monday the 13th being just like every other day…..

I'm currently deep in edits on my novel, which means every day feels a little like Monday the 13th. But if Garfield has taught me anything, it's that the correct response to a bad Monday is curling up with your teddy bear (Pooky), eating as much lasagna as you can, and napping with wild abandon.

He's not wrong.