Coincidences?

Are there really random coincidences? I’m going to address two recent events that may not be coincidences but then they are Twilight Zone moments.

Saturday night when I was finishing up my tongue in cheek post about missing the Monkees’ appearance on “The Johnny Cash Show“ when I was child, I checked a reference book to verify the date. I was shocked to find out that it was exactly 40 years to the day. Wow!

People have been talking about the phenomenon of remembering where they were or what they were doing when they got news of the deaths of famous people. In my lifetime that would be Elvis and John Lennon. Oh, I do remember where I was when John Kennedy was assassinated. I was in a crib sucking on a blue bottle.

I recall the August day in 1977 when I was across the street from my childhood home. Nancy, my classmate and family friend, was entertaining my teenage crush of the summer and myself . I attempting to charming, witty and suave when my cousin James came speeding up on his metallic blue Schwinn bicycle, pedaling as fast as his legs would allow. “Hey dude, Elvis died!” He exclaimed. As the sky began to sprinkle in the muggy August heat, I bid farewell to the ladies and headed home to break the news to my Elvis fan mother.

32 years later, I was visiting the dentist on my lunch hour. My dentist happens to be Nancy’s brother. As I waited to pay, Nancy, an assistant in the office, approached and asked if I had heard that Michael Jackson had died. In my surprised state, I said, “When you say Michael Jackson, you mean Jackson 5 Michael Jackson?” She confirmed this as I felt silly, realizing she would not have announced to me that long time local radio personality Michael Jackson had died. I have seen Nancy less that ten times in the last 25 years so I find it amazing that I learned of these 2 breaking news stories in her presence. So for the sake of celebrities worldwide, I must find another dentist!