belated birthday ode

Perilously positioned betwixt Lady Luck's loaded 7/11/07 and Urban Myth's cursed calendrical coincidence, Friday the 13th, Raina's birthday observations have been carefully considered to fend off the feint of heart and faith this year. Slot-machine enthusiasts have joined with numerologically inclined occultists in a rare show of solidarity to champion the position that such a contraposition of fortune is of no uncertain significance. A leading expert on unlikelihood suggested that anomalies of this sort were, indeed, unlikely to occur very often. Others have posited that a twenty-second birthday event occuring under these circumstances must have been the work of generously but mysteriously funded conspirators operating surreptitiously for purposes apparently menacing yet benign in actuality. But, armed with the evidence and a sense, however ambiguous, of divine providence, the faithful nevertheless continue to convene in order to express their appreciation for the boldness of heart, bounty of benevolence and incandescence of presence that is: RAINA!