Got Fortune?

Yesterday, just about high noon, I got my fortune told, not once but thrice. No disgruntled, sleepy genie that was locked away for hundreds of years appeared in a puffy cloud with my fortune. There was no ancient, magical lamp either. My fortunes arrived in three small, crushable, packages of precisely the same size and to the naked eye, they were the same shape. They came cradled in the well known fortune cookies. Not only did I receive the foresight of the wise, I also acquired the winning combination of numbers for the lottery.

Fortune cookies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How I happened to gain possession of these fortunes was not such a fortunate scenario. Keep reading, you’ll see what I mean.

On Friday, I stopped at my neighborhood Chinese restaurant and placed my dinner order. I was hungry. The young lady who took my order told me that the wait time was just 10 minutes, a maximum of 15. She assured me that it won’t be 15 minutes though. I believed her, after all, we’re dealing with fast food here. Eight minutes went by. No food. I went next door to the Jamaican grocery store (they have a restaurant too, but I craved Chinese) and bought a pack of Ovaltine cookies to stave off the hunger. No luck. I just added weight to the wait. Eleven minutes elapsed and still no food.

The girl was on the phone taking a long order, or so it seemed to me. Everything appears delayed when you are hungry!  Sixteen minutes, no food. Did I say I was hungry? I decided to speak up. “It’s been over 15 minutes, Miss”. The girl acknowledged me by saying, “yes, it’s been a while”. She pushed through the swinging doors and announced, “customer waiting”.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the kitchen doors swung open and the delicious aroma of food stormed the air. As the server handed me the white and red box, she offered a unique apology, “we gave you two extra cookies for the wait, you now have three”. I don’t think she was expecting me to burst  into song. I smiled, despite my annoyance and left.

I didn’t care about exploring my fortunes on Friday- all I wanted to do was enjoy my dinner. It was scrumptious. Was it really? I was super hungry, remember? Yesterday, as I was putting away the four packets of soy sauce, my eyes landed on the fortune cookies. I got my scissors to snip the plastic wrapper (experience taught me not to rip with my fingers, unless I want flying fortune cookies).

First fortune: A distant relative will phone you soon. At this time of writing, no relative, not even a distant one has phoned. Maybe, I’ll get a ring tomorrow, or the next day, or who knows when. This fortune came without lucky numbers.

Second fortune: You will overcome many obstacles. Oh no, hardships are coming my way.  How can hardships be lucky? Ah, I see. Obstacles are necessary in life. They are gifts that make us stronger. Is this fortune telling me that I am weak? Okay, I need to grow. No lucky numbers with this one either.

The final fortune: Your mind is filled with new ideas, explore them. How fortuitous, after all, I just started blogging and I do want to explore new ideas. Is my mind really filled with new ideas? I embrace this fortune wholeheartedly. I believe it. I grabbed my camera and the exploration of a new idea was conceived. This blog post is a testament of the fortune I received on that tiny, rectangular slip of paper. This cliche comes to mind: Good things come to those who wait. My long, unfortunate wait (or so I thought) did pay off with a beautiful fortune.

Yes, this fortune came with lucky numbers: 4, 33, 38, 18, 54, 20. Now, let’s see what $$ is in store for me. Then again, one needs play the lottery in order to get a chance at winning.

Have you had your fortune told recently? Do share with us.

Here’s what I forecast for you: You will have a spring in your step and a smile on your face as you continue to interact with your fellow bloggers and readers.