Incredibly, the world is still spinning on its axis even as I type.

Why is this miraculous? Because I FINALLY got to eat at the Moshulu, the tall-ship-turned-restaurant on the Philadelphia waterfront.

I've been trying to eat there for years, and something always came up. In the late 80s, a fellow and fellow commuter whom I'd been chatting with on the bus for several days invited me to dinner there. The pinhead stood me up.

Twice. After that second time, I didn't see him on the bus again. Just as well, I suppose, except I'm mystified to this day as to why HE struck up conversations, and eventually asked me out, in the first freaking place if he wasn't planning to actually follow through. File it under "People are weird".

A few years later, the Moshulu had a fire which rendered it incapable of being used as a restaurant. It wound up towed to the NJ side of the river, where it languished for several years. I thought, when I saw that it'd been damaged by fire, "Well, so much for my ever getting to eat there NOW."

Eventually, after a few plans fell through that involved refurbing the restaurant and either a) leaving it in NJ or b) moving it out of the tri-state area entirely, the Moshulu was repaired went back into operation on the Philly waterfront, not far from Penn's Landing. "Good", I thought. "Maybe I'll get to eat there one of these eons after all".

More years passed. Mark and I decided to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in 2000 by going to the Moshulu. It wasn't meant to be. Unfortunately, a few days prior to the anniversary, a tragic accident happened at a nightclub on a pier adjacent to the Moshulu. The same people owned and operated both the nightclub and the Moshulu, so their entire operation was closed down in the aftermath of the accident, a pier collapse that resulted in four fatalities.

Obviously, we had to rearrange our anniversary plans, a miniscule inconvenience compared to the ordeal that the nightclub patrons went through, not to mention the experience of the employees of the club and restaurant whose jobs were impacted by the closures. Still, I couldn't help but think, in passing, "Boy, I am really not meant to eat at this place. Every time I try to go there, something happens to foul up the plans."

More years passed. Then, as I know I posted on here about a year ago, our Group of Friends (tm) decided to have our annual Christmas Brunch there. Every year, we all go out to brunch some time between Christmas and New Year's. In lieu of buying one another gifts, we go to a nice restaurant together and celebrate being friends. Last year, Joe M. suggested that we should try going to the Moshulu for our brunch. I regaled him with my tale of woe of my failed attempts to eat there, and said, "Finally, I'll get the chance to go to the Moshulu. Provided some natural disaster doesn't occur first; which, given my prior experiences, can't be entirely ruled out."

Sure enough, the plans fell through. Our brunch was slated for New Year's Eve, the only day that we could all get together for brunch. It turns out that we were the ONLY people with a reservation for the brunch, so the Moshulu regretfully cancelled our reservations and said that they were going to be closed to prepare for the New Year's Eve crowd that would be coming in that night. We wound up eating somewhere else for our annual brunch.

This year, being either brave, foolhardy, or both, we tried once again to have our brunch at the Moshulu. Incredibly, despite all odds, we actually managed to eat there. Nothing happened to prevent our going -- the boat didn't sink, the river didn't flood, we didn't have a blizzard or an earthquake or a swarm of locusts or anything else hitting the city. And the food was terrific. :o) Which is good, since I've been trying for about 20 years to have a meal there. I've heard of "good things come to those who wait", but I didn't expect to have to wait quite THAT long.

So the jinx is broken and the mal occhio appears to have been dispelled. Nice. Nothing like a bit of positive mojo, just in time for the new year. ;o)