…Where’s your wife?
Magpies. If you are superstitious about magpies then asking, “hello Mr Magpie, how’s your wife?” will be something that you do on a regular basis and I bet every time you see a lonesome magpie. Am I right?
As the childhood rhyme goes, seeing one magpie brings sorrow. If you see two, however, you’re okay:
I’ve been familiar with this rhyme for my entire life, yet it’s only recently that the sight of one lonely magpie actually causes me to have heart palpitations! I’m now completely beholden to this rhyme, and I hang on its every word! Magpies well and truly hold the power to dictate my mood for the day… those pesky (beautiful) birds.
Cue crazy lady.
This obsession with magpies started with my first IVF cycle. Me and my husband found that we’d often cross paths with magpies on our daily walk and when we did, we would cite the rhyme aloud. If we came across two, three and sometimes four, we’d have a little cheer and tell ourselves that it must mean our cycle would be a success. It gave me a burst of energy in that moment, and I’d go about my day with a smile on my face.
Seeing one however, was a different story!
The day before the results of my first transfer, we saw only one magpie and I immediately thought “that’s it, game over”. And guess what, my cycle failed. Rationally, I know the magpie had nothing to do with the outcome of my cycle, but it set a negative tone before I even knew my results. And I needed someone to blame right there and then, so I blamed the lone magpie.
More recently, we have started to talk to the magpies!
When we now come across just one, we stop and ask the magpie “Excuse me Mr Magpie, where’s your wife?” and we genuinely stand, look around and up at the trees and wait until the second one appears (which one luckily does most of the time – cue shivers). I know traditionally we’re supposed to ask how the magpie’s wife is, but ‘where’s your wife’ seems more fitting when we’re wanting her to show up! If a second magpie doesn’t appear straight away, then we’ll ask it where’s its friend, brother or sister is… we’ll ask it anything really until the second one appears and removes the threat of sorrow from showing up on our front door!
Okay. I (we, husband included) sound a little mad, I’ll give you that. But failed IVF transfers can strip you off what little hope you have, and so when I see two, three or four magpies, it gives me back a little slither of hope that I maybe didn’t have that morning. It’s also become a little shared weirdness between me and my husband too, which I care for deeply. I think it’s cute when we both whisper ‘yay’ when the second magpie appears and we’re genuinely excited and happy that the magpies therefore won’t be taunting us with sorrow on that day!
Everyone has their quirks and weirdness, this is ours. And whilst it’s very likely just an old wives’ tale, we’re not taking any chances and will continue to ask a lone magpie, “hello Mr Magpie, where’s your wife?”
Love, Sophie xx
A Sprinkle of Baby Dust 