Tales of Sept. 14

Here's a photo I took Sept. 18, 2023... For some reason i couldn't find one from a 14th!

Apparently a lot of funny things happen to me on Sept. 14ths. Here's a story I posted eight years ago that day:

Stopping off at Target to obtain a flu shot, I exited my car to find an abandoned cart blocking the sidewalk. So I walked the cart that half-block to the entrance (yes, I'm one of those who parks as far away as possible), left it at the entryway, and got my annual injection. I then proceeded back to my car, just in time to watch a lady abandon her shopping cart exactly where the last one had been.

And then there's this Sept. 14th tale from nine years ago:

A jogger stopped me in my walk this afternoon, asking if I wasn't reading the exact same book as yesterday. After some confusion, I admitted that I was still in Antony Beevor's Ardennes 1944, a book on the Battle of the Bulge that came out late last year. He seemed surprised at that, so I promised this inquisitive runner that I would have a new book started within two days, which he said was good. He then resumed his run with a smile. About two minutes of laughter kept me from getting back into the book, which now faces a finishing deadline. Oh, the pressures of walking and reading in Tulsa.

And here's one from 14 years ago, when I started on Facebook... so I have no evidence before that date:

I had the most amazing day today. I was at a press conference when I vaguely heard my name called. I turn around and the next thing I know, a gorgeous woman walks up and kisses me. Never happened like that before! Even though just on the cheek, it was probably my first non-family kiss in a decade. What a shock. I should attend press conferences more often! Then I get back to the office and a friend mentions how a local Tweeter had just met the truly legendary Roy Clark. So I call that friend up, and she not only tells me how to meet this Hee Haw icon that I've chased for three years, but she introduces me to his business manager who agrees to that long-sought interview. I find myself cheering "Hurray!" for half an hour. Then I finish my work and find that I've left my car in a two-hour parking spot two hours too long, but to my joy, the evil parking nazi apparently was too busy to mind too much. With Zio's crowded I end up at Fuddruckers where I had maybe the best hamburger ever, at least for today. Then I get a call where I'm told that in my press conference article I mistakenly labeled one "Dan" a "David". The copy editor laughs. And the moral of this story is, a good kiss trumps a bad spelling any day, even if it causes it.