Lucky money
My mother told E a story from her youth, one that she hadn't shared with us before:
When she was 17, she won the lottery — the equivalent of two to three years' salary. At the same time, her younger brother lost a fingertip.
She later came into lucky money1 again — and her older sister fell ill. Since then, she stayed away from lucky money — for her family and for us.
When E shared the story, I said, "Wow, mom really loves us." My sister, in turn, said she thought our mother was very superstitious.
As she calls it. ↩