Turning 23 on 11/11/11 is Symbolic for Shorewood Woman

Molly Corkins doesn’t have anything too big planned for her 23rd birthday. She had an eye doctor appointment lined up and planned on doing some cleaning and cooking in preparation for a dinner party she’s hosting. Then she'll hit some bars afterward.

A couple years ago, though, when she realized she would be celebrating 23 years of life on 11/11/11, she dreamed of doing something big: leaving the country and experiencing life.

There is still something mystical and special about Nov. 11, 2011, for Corkins, not unlike many across the country and world.

As couples across the world scramble to exchange wedding vows with hopes the fluke of the calendar will mean luck in their future, Corkins said she meditated for 10 minutes and made a wish when the clock hit 11:11 a.m. She said she'll wait to see if anything magical happens later in the day.

“If you want to take it numerically, one is a very powerful number,” she said. “I think you can buy into it or not. Hey, I’ve always liked my birthday.

“If you talk to people that were also born on this day, you may find some passionate people, that are engaged in the world and passionate about the world around.”

Corkins, who grew up in the Milwaukee area, graduated from Shorewood High School and lives with her mother in Shorewood, said she sees the day as a way for people to think positively.

“If everyone has the attention of making this a good day for themselves…this day can be focused on good will and passion,” she said.

She said it’s important to look at Nov. 11 from a historical perspective. She drew on an example of World War I ending on Nov. 11, 1918, with a ceasefire called at 11 a.m. Everything came to a standstill and people likely thought about what was occurring, she said.

“It was a day that was like people stopped and said, 'We need to stop this destruction,' ” she said.

“I have always thrived on the historical significance of this day.”

Corkins is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she studied theater and literature. She’s in a sort of limbo in her life right now, in between chapters. She plans a move to Philadelphia next week, and hopes to find a career as working actor with a theater company and tell stories that make people think and produces changes.

“Everyone craves stories,” she said. “Stories hold power.

“I want to tell stories well and tell stories that need to be told. The stories that we hold in our cultural subconscious.”

Annie Melshior, Corkins’ mother, said her daughter was actually two weeks late — doctors gave her a due date of Halloween.

 “As a child, she had this kind of look, you could look at her and you could tell she was very intelligent and that she could tell what was going on around her, she was very smart,” Melshior said. “We hung around a lot and we spent a lot time together.”

Melshior said her daughter as a child was precarious and intuitive. She also was very outgoing. She grew up in the theater and around theater people and her father has been a professional actor for 25 years.

“She asks good questions,” Melshior said. “She is willing to ask questions and she doesn’t necessarily know the answer to. I’m excited about her life's path.”