Pound Pup Legacy

By JAMES MCGINNIS

PhillyBurbs.com
7/7/2007 3:34:19 AM

More Philadelphia Suburbs news

Some people seem to be born lucky.

Others believe they make their own luck.

Superstitious or not, we have always associated Lady Luck with the number 7. And today, she is inspiring millions of people to dream, to take unusual risks or try their hand at fate.

An estimated 65,000 Americans will take the plunge into marriage today. Some say it could be the biggest wedding day ever. For others, it's a reason to party or gamble.

BORN LUCKY

It's a birthday for some, like Angelo Nocito of Bristol, who at 80 feels quite lucky to be alive.

It could be the luckiest day in the lives of Sarah and Scott Klemp of Middletown, who expect their first child today. They already have high expectations for her.

“I actually wanted her born on July 4, in the hopes that she'd be America's first female president,” Sarah Klemp said. “But 7-7-7 also seems a great day to be born.”

Al Greco of Bristol Township believes that 7-7-70 was the luckiest day of his life. It was the day his daughter, Diane Krause, was born. She turned 7 years old on the date 7-7-77. “It was certainly unique and we all knew it. We felt even more lucky to have her on that day,” Greco said.

LUCKY IN LOVE

For those who feel lucky in love, there seems no better day than today to get married.

“Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria will marry NBA star Tony Parker today in a church ceremony outside Paris.

Some will fly out to Las Vegas and wed before a minister nicknamed Elvis.

Katie Atkinson and Matt Morges of Morrisville know their marriage is going to be a gamble. But then the only thing they really have in common is a love of poker, Atkinson said.

“I love him. But the only thing we really have in common is that we both love to play cards,” Atkinson said. The couple met almost five years ago, when she tried unsuccessfully to start a band.

“Matt was the bass player. The band didn't last, but we did,” she remembered. “We learned to play poker together and now we play poker almost every Friday night.”

Shortly after the couple began premarriage counseling, Pastor Scott Mitchell of the First Baptist Church of Morrisville was also playing cards with them. “We play canasta with the pastor and his wife almost every week since we started the counseling,” she said.

Atkinson and Morges asked their wedding party to wear red and black like the suits of playing cards. After a reception tonight at Fisher's Tudor House in Bensalem, they plan to head over to Philadelphia Park racetrack and hit the slots.

“We're going to try our hand at the number 777 slot machine and see what happens,” Atkinson said.

They'll honeymoon at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.

Roseanne Schulz, 41, and Randall Good, 43, both of Croydon, will also marry, in Bristol Township. They don't have a casino theme planned for their wedding. The couple said they didn't realize the significance of their wedding date until it was all planned out.

“When we realized the date was lucky, we figured it was a sign of good things to come,” she said.

Emily Young of Bristol Township said she and her fianc Michael Poploskie of Bristol rescheduled their wedding from June 30 to July 7 so it might be a little cheaper.

“We were told this was the off season,” Young said. “We'll take all the luck we can get.''

For those with a little more money to spend, The Ritz Carlton in New York has a lucky number wedding package for just $77,777. The package includes a reception for 77 people plus cocktail hour with an open bar, a custom seven-tier wedding cake and a seven-bottle champagne toast to commemorate the occasion.

YOU FEELING LUCKY?

Philadelphia Park Casino in Bensalem will give away $777 every 15 minutes between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. At 11 p.m., the casino will give away one cash prize of $7,777. The prizes are limited to card carrying club members.

For $777, the Borgata in Atlantic City will offer accommodations, four hours in a spa, lunch, manicures and pedicures and even a bathrobe to take home.

Also in Atlantic City, Tropicana Resort and Casino has a $7,777 package, which includes a bi-level suite, two tickets to a show, $2,000 dining credit, a $2,000 shopping credit and a $700 spa credit.

THE SCIENCE OF SEVEN

Psychologist and author Dr. Frank Farley of Temple University believes the number 7 could be more mental than a thing of magic.

“There's no science to suggest that this number, 7, is lucky or somehow magical. But there is something going on with memory and the number 7 and that is not completely understood,” Farley said.

Evidence of our comfort with 7 can be found in telephone numbers, the Seven Wonders of the World and the Seven Sages. These things might have been tied together in sevens because they “test the limits of human memory,” Farley suggested.

Couples who believe strongly that they are fated to be together or held by a spiritual bond might have a better shot at long-term happiness in marriage, Farley said. Then again, they could be setting themselves up for a fall.

“Marriage is hard and it involves work. If two people believe that they don't have to work at it, that it's somehow fated to work out, then they could face serious difficulties,” he said.

If things don't work out, newlyweds can always get divorced in six days — on Friday the 13th.