Happy accidents.
Unhappy accidents.
Planned accidents.
Three topics today. So I won’t beat around the bush.
First, the happy accident. It occurred on this date, December 28, 1849. That is when a clumsy fellow named Jean Baptiste Jolly of France did his clumsy deed. He, or maybe his maid, accidentally upset a lamp containing turpentine & oil onto his clothing, or maybe it was a tablecloth. I am sorry for the ambiguity, but there appear to be a couple of stories surrounding this event. Either way. He must have been a dirty guy, too, because he immediately saw the cleaning effect the spill of turpentine had on his clothes.
Later, he filled the whole bathtub with turpentine and put an entire tablecloth therein. When it dried, it was clean as a whistle. And just like that. Dry-Cleaning was discovered.
My dad taught us a song when we were kids. Loosely related.
Lincoln, Lincoln, I’ve been thinkin’
What in the world have you been drinkin’?
Smells like whiskey. Tastes like wine.
Oh my gosh, it’s turpentine.
I’ll YouTube it if you want me to.
Next. The unhappy accident.
Also, on this date, December 28, 2008. In NFL football, the Detroit Lions came crashing down to a 31-21 loss to Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. It was the first time a team in NFL history went without winning a single game in a season (16-game season).
Here is the thing. When I started playing organized softball at age 7 or 8 or whatever I was, I played for the Purple Team, coached by Mrs. Lucille Conner. That was our name. The Purple Team. I’m not sure how teams were picked at the Little League fields. I think the coaches sat around a table, taking turns, selecting one kid from the list at each turn. Maybe Mrs. Conner missed the meeting. Regardless, we did not win one game the entire season. Zip. Nadda. Vamoose.
I’d go on to play for many more teams over the years, every summer without fail until I was about 40 years old. My year with the Purple Team was the only winless season in all those years. Like the Lions. Roar.
Finally, the planned accident.
This time it comes on this date, December 28, from 1981.
The first American “test-tube baby” was born.
Yes, the first child was born as a result of in-vitro fertilization. She came into this world in Norfolk, Virginia. Her name is Elizabeth Jordan Carr.
It was a bit of a miracle at the time. For those who don’t know how it works, in-vitro fertilization is a process where doctors fertilize an egg outside of a woman’s body. Then, they implant the developing embryo in the womb.
These days, it is estimated that IVF now accounts for over one percent of American births every year.
The egg part of me was fertilized in the good old-fashioned way. Hubba, hubba. That happened in Dayton, Ohio, somewhere around August 3, 1963. Mom and Dad probably put the other six kids to bed early that night.
But I’m pretty sure the news of me seemed quite accidental.
That’s all for now about accidents.
Your friend,
The Big Whoops.
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“There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.”
— Bob Ross
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“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein
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“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
― Rita Mae Brown, Alma Mater
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Accidentally. Three kinds, it seems.
