Thursday's Child

David Copperfield 1910 edition

"Everywoman" marginalia back pages

Marginalia inside front pages

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.

In consideration of the day and hour of my birth, it was declared by the nurse, and by some sage women in the neighbourhood who had taken a lively interest in me several months before there was any possibility of our becoming personally acquainted, first, that I was destined to be unlucky in life; and secondly, that I was privileged to see ghosts and spirits; both these gifts inevitably attaching, as they believed, to all unlucky infants of either gender, born towards the small hours on a Friday night.

So begins the first chapter of Charles Dickens David Copperfield. I found this treasure at the local thrift store. I love books that include marginalia of any kind, and in Eulalia's case, she included her address, calculations, and class notes. I assume from B.Y.E, that she attended BYU before it was a university, and that David Copperfield was assigned reading for a literature class. Why she wrote Everywoman on the back page is a mystery. I'll confess my first thought when I read it was Whitney Houston's I'm every woman, it's all in me,and I hear Whitney and Chaka singing in my ear as I write this.

The narrator of Dicken's novel bemoans being born on a Friday as bad luck. Does he fulfill his query and become the hero of his own life? Read the book and find out. In the meantime, you may consider the meaning of which day of the week you were born.

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

According to Wikipedia, this rhyme was first recorded in A. E. Bray's Traditions of Devonshire in 1838.

If you don't have any idea on which day you were born, here's an interesting site that will provide the information in a few seconds. What day of the week were you born? The site also provides a modern version of the days of the week rhyme.

Instead of "far to go", in the modern version I'm "very smart", so naturally, I like this version better.

I was born on Thursday. My daughter and both husbands, current and ex, were also. In the original version I have "far to go". Although in reality I haven't wandered too far, I'm a wonderer at heart, restless, willing to drop and run, until the rational and practical side steps in and puts a heavy thumb down. That thumb has been heavy far, far too often. With each year, I've noticed that I'm becoming more and more restless, and that my daydreams center around escaping to anywhere with only a backpack, camera, notebook, iPhone, and credit card. Two weeks ago a colleague asked if I'd be interested in working in China next year. I said YES without hesitation, and it took more than a few beats to bring me back to the reality that my daughter just might object if I moved that far away from her at this point in her young life.

Thank god for Ovation tv and their Staycation programs. And thanks again to diety and the Sundance Channel for Man Shops Globe. Both stations help me get my wanderlust fix, and I'll watch, (twitching with restlessness), until I finally allow myself to pull up anchor and sail the hell out of port! I give myself three more years of nose to the grindstone responsibility.

See, Thursday's child really does have far to go,as in all around the globe and back again!

Ever wonder how Thursday come to be called Thursday? Thursday was named after Jupiter or Thor, the Nordic name for Jupiter, also known as Zeus. Ruled by Jupiter, this planet bestows Thursday's child with the following qualities: Honorable, expansive, generous, jovial, philosophical and/or extravagant, conceited, hypocritical, sharp-tongued, fanatical. Seems a little harsh I'll take the good with the bad.

If you're interested in what the ancients called their days of the week, or how to pronounce Thurday in say, Ido or Scots Gaelic, check out wiki's Week-day Names. And if you feel like it, check out David Bowie's lyrics for Thursday's Child. While you're purusing the site, why not google your own day of the week!