15 Aug 2011
The Green Bowl
One lazy evening in late June, my roommate Erin was making rhubarb pie in the kitchen, while I sat in the armchair in the living room. As we talked about something, she came into the doorway, holding a large green glass bowl that my mom had given me – and which she always made a point to ensure I still possessed when she came by.
Although Erin has never broken any of my kitchenware and was not doing anything threatening toward the bowl, for some reason I jokingly said “don’t break my bowl!”
She laughed and looked at it, scoffing “don’t worry, I’m not going to break your green bowl.”
Then she walked out of sight toward the sink. The water ran for a moment, and then I heard her curse in surprise.
I jokingly yelled something like “what of mine have you ruined in there?!” (Although I’d just made the comment about the bowl, I’d already put it out of my mind – it was just a random comment – and besides, I’d heard no breaking glass.)
But then Erin returned to the doorway, still holding the green glass bowl – a shocked look on her face.
She held up the bowl, which looked intact – at first.
Then I noticed that three jagged cracks ran through it. No pieces had come apart – it had simply cracked when she’d put the frozen pieces of rhubarb into it.
Huh.
It felt too coincidental to be a coincidence …. but what? Did I somehow know, at some level, that it was coming? Did it happen because we thought about it? Did I unconsciously pick up from her body language when I saw her with the bowl that she, at some unconscious level, was aware that the hot water & ice cold rhubarb that she would soon be adding to the bowl might crack it?
Even if ‘merely’ the latter, still fascinating!
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I so love this story! Hope alol is going well with you, Gabe!
TRISH
August 16th, 2011 at 10:52 ampermalink
I just though about your website last week–just popped into my mind, wondering if it was still sending out items.
And here it is!
I have had premonitions of something going wrong with my car or other possessions. I hate that feeling and go out of my way to shake it off. But sometimes it turns out to be legit.
BARBARA CZACZYNSKI
August 16th, 2011 at 11:29 ampermalink
I have the great misfortune of having this happen to me way to frequently. I will think of something and bam! in a moment it happens. I feel like I’m already talking in circles. “It” could apply to anything… be it someone getting hurt, something treasured getting broken – you name it. It happens so often when I think it, I immediately go “no, no, I take it back, I take it back”. My husband calls it women’s intuition (or more frequently he calls me a “witchy woman”), but I have questioned it as you have about the bowl. Is it intuition? Is it witch craft? Is it some sick desire for it to happen? Is it some unconscious sense? I don’t know – but most days it drives me crazy, because no matter how you try to prevent “it”, “it” occurs regardless.
Melissa Hickman
August 16th, 2011 at 2:59 pmpermalink
A couple weeks ago I was looking at a really cool painted bowl my mom had given me in college, my Big Bowl of Self-Esteem. It had a light crack going through the paint on the top, but didn’t seem life threatening. I told Boyfriend not to break it. Then on the day you make this post he tosses a water bottle lid in it and it breaks into 3 pieces. I was standing in front of it when you sent me this post. I wonder how many other poor souls lost a bowl their mom gave them that day.
Amy's Shattered Esteem
August 18th, 2011 at 9:02 ampermalink
My husband broke my favorite suntea pitcher last month! I’d had it exactly 1 year but was becoming really emotionally attached, it was thick glass, and sturdy.
Last month, he decided to reward my hard days’ labor with a pot of what turned out to be scalding hot tea, poured from stove to pitcher. The teapot separated cleanly at the bottom rim, but otherwise completely intact! Unfortunately its contents completely singed off all the hair from “ow-ow-ow-ing” husband’s lower ankle, but amazingly and thankfully , no burns or injury, and his hair has since returned.
The old pitcher is now a planter, and we found its exact replacement make and model at the same price although said husand is banned from any brewing not orchestrated by the sun!
Tea pitchers happen.
Sharon Woods
August 19th, 2011 at 11:57 pmpermalink
My late mother had a green bowl exactly like this one! She kept it on the sideboard in pride of place. That was back in the 60’s. I love synchronicities!!!
Katia
July 21st, 2012 at 4:35 pmpermalink