I just heard a siren go by

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When I was a little girl, my mother, who was very superstitious, would always make us say a little prayer when we heard a siren.

We had to pray that everyone we knew was safe and was not hurt and especially that the siren was not an ambulance going to someone we house that we knew.

We also had to pray that whoever it was going to, that they would be comforted. I guess now I think that was a very sweet thing my mother would do, but then, it was so annoying.

Especially when I was a teen and my mom would stop the car and make us pray in front of our friends. But that wasn't the end of her superstitions. We were never allowed to say the words, "death" or "dying" because it might mean someone might die.

We weren't allowed to walk under ladders or in front of black cats. We weren't allowed to step on cracks in the sidewalks.

When we heard a bell somewhere, it meant an angel received her wings.