If you have a fear of the number 13, I have bad news — this year there are two Friday the 13ths!

According to EarthSky News (https://earthsky.org/human-world/two-friday-the-13ths-in-2019, the photo came from that site) this is not unusual. Every year has at least one, and can have as many as three, Friday the 13ths.

You probably know an exaggerated fear of something is called a phobia. In our modern world, there are literally hundreds; there is even a website tracking them (http://phobialist.com). In this case, we are dealing with two — triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the number 13, and more specifically, friggatriskaidekaphobia, or fear of Friday the 13th.

This year, Fridays fall on both September 13th and December 13th. The complication, and at the risk of encouraging a phobia, is those two dates are exactly 13 weeks apart! And after December 13 comes Friday, March 13, 2020, again exactly 13 weeks later.

The good news, I suppose, is that the next year with three Friday the 13ths won’t be until 2026 (February, March, November).

Hopefully, by then everyone will be coping nicely with their phobias.