R3

It’s a tradition in my family to say “rabbit rabbit rabbit” on the first day of every month. To say this out loud is to bring good luck to yourself all month. I just did an online search, and found a Wikipedia article on it. Huh. I think I liked it better when I thought my Grandpa Gasser invented it.

Growing up, remembering to say R3 each month became a game, and like any game that involves siblings, it became a competition. Lena was always the constant winner, since she was always such an early riser.

It started out as a monthly game – and as children a month is a really long time. In college it became an expected email “Subject: rabbit rabbit rabbit”. I would call my mom at work to say it. She would tell me if I was the first child to say it to her (this, and many other factors, led to being deemed “the golden child”, a post for another day). Once in college, I started lagging. I never woke up early enough.

The whole thing got more complicated when I moved to Washington DC. I was a time zone ahead of everyone else. Mom made the rule that wherever the matriarch is be the time zone we play in. Fair enough.

At one point, after we all had cell phones, I was sending text messages “r4bb1t r4bb1t r4bb1t”.

Now it seems I’m forgetting more times than I remember. Perhaps it’s that the fierce sibling competition is gone. More likely, it seems time goes by a lot lot faster than it did when I was a child. The words are barely out of my mouth and the month is ending.

I like the superstition (or game) of saying “rabbit rabbit rabbit” – I stop and consider that this is a new fresh 1 on the calendar, and contacting my family once a month doesn’t hurt. I even have a few friends who know, and don’t stare blankly at me when I all-of-a-sudden blurt out “Oh my gosh, right, it’s rabbit rabbit rabbit!” I’m definitely going to remember to say it, out loud, next month.