Some days are bigger than others. The numbers 3-2-6 coming together must be like some secret triangle in the Universe. Historically, this date has rocked the world.
On March 26, the following things occurred.
1845
A patent was awarded for adhesive medicated plaster. This was the precursor of the band-aid. Just think of it. The precursor of the band-aid. When I was a kid, there was only one kind of Band-Aid, right out of those metal tins. Now, they come in different skin colors and in a wide cast of characters. Like SpongeBob. And Hello Kitty. It makes no difference. It is the badge of courage. Thank the sticky gods for that adhesive-medicated plaster.
1880
Duncan Hines was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Yes, the cake mix guy. He started out as a restaurant guide writer, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Hines wrote the newspaper food column called “Adventures in Good Eating at Home.” After that, he started schlepping breads and cakes. Just add water. His name stuck with the brand. Personally, I like fictitious Betty Crocker.
1931
To the lanes. A man named Leo Bentley bowled three consecutive perfect games in Lorain, Ohio. Yes. Three 300s. That’s a 900 series for all you English majors. He struck out. In a good way. My idol.
1936
A woman known as Mary Joyce ended a 1,000 mile trip by dog in Alaska. I’m assuming this was actually sled dogs, and that she wasn’t just riding on the back of some Great Dane, or Saint Bernard. Either way, there’s a little bit of crazy wrapped up in someone traveling 100 miles in Alaska by dog.
1937
The spinach growers of Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of Popeye. I wonder if it was made of iron.
“I yam what I yam. And now, me’s gots me own statue. I bets Bluto don’ts got no statue. Yack, yack, yack, yack.”
Ironclad and leafy. And the world was forever changed.
Truthfully? Every day the world is forever changed.
I hope we will all be a part of changing it for the good.
The things that went on. All over. And over.
