Originally Written in 2008
I guess it all began in 1986. It was January. January 27th and I was trying to do schoolwork at home. I was doing homeschool that year and while I tried to focus on the work in front of me I was listening to the radio and there was coverage of the space shuttle launch that had been postponed yet again. I thought to myself that all the consternation over the seemingly endless precautions was shallow. I thought one day something disastrous is going to happen and those people will wish they'd been a little more understanding about precautions. The next day seven astronauts died.
Then in 2003 I got a new job and came to work on my first day wearing the bow tie I'd been presented with along with the rest of my uniform. I was intent on learning and remembering my responsibilities and failed to notice I was the only one wearing this silly looking accessory until a pugnacious young lady named Jackie asked me about it and bluntly told me to take it off. I ruefully complied. This incident was fun to reminisce about and always provoked amusement from my coworkers when retold. One day I asked if they'd seen the skit on Saturday Night Live about Senator Paul Simon explaining why he wore a bow tie after every question during his campaign to be nominated as a presidential candidate about 20 years ago. None of them had ever heard of this Senator. Just as well. He died the next day.
Then earlier this year while playing chess I asked my opponent if he'd ever seen the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. We talked about what a strange fellow Fischer had become... anti~semetic and eccentric. Refusing to engage in any chess tournament without all manner of variations until the game of chess is hardly recognizable. On the day following this conversation he died.
Then last Friday one of my dearest friends was over and while making dinner she asked what movie I had in mind and I told her The Bible and she asked who was in it and I mentioned George C. Scott. She was guessing maybe it was Charlton Heston, but I told her she was probably thinking of The Ten Commandments. Mr. Heston passed away on the following evening.
I'm not doing it on purpose.
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