… that I was working for the Post Office. I was on my first round of deliveries. One of the deliveries was a $1,000 bill with an address printed on it. I made the mistake of stopping into a bar to wave my mailbag around and say “Woohoo, job!” and someone grabbed the $1,000 bill/postcard and ran off with it. I chased him down the street threatening him with a variety of Federal laws I’m pretty sure don’t exist for stealing the mail (i.e., “Return that mail or your manhood gets fed to an industrial tree shredder!”)

Then I woke up and was glad a $1,000 piece of mail didn’t actually get stolen from me.

Gary and his wife, D., married on September the 11th. Not the September 11th, one of the ones before that, I’m not sure how long they’ve been married (less than ten years). Gary of course will tell you, quite seriously, that he doesn’t associate the date with “badness” because of the terrorist strikes, but rather because its the day he got latched with a ball and chain.

(He’s kidding, of course, he loves his wife, he just won’t come right out and say that, particularly to, well, anyone. But for those of us who’ve worked with him long enough, we just sort of know it.)

Gary and D., of course, didn’t decide to get married on September 11th because of what would happen on that date — they of course had no way of knowing what the date would become associated with. I wonder how many people prepared to celebrate anniversaries or birthdays on December 7th, 1941, only to wake to the news of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor? That horrible event pretty much sucks all the joy out those events … at least, that year (I’d imagine that, years later, people … well, got over it).

(And, of course, people who were married on July 4th, 1775, probably got all super excited the following year, yeah?)

Today happens to be the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, the second time in history an atomic weapon was used against human beings. Eighty thousand people were killed, a military bombing of a civilian target — was it justified? Were projections of losses based on a US invasion of Japan accurate? What would have happened had the bomb not been dropped, or been dropped on a military target? Those questions are academic these days, the realm of the crackpots, professors, and military gamers.

Maybe its because it was a different generation – I don’t know. I don’t think many people will plan weddings for September 11th for quite some time — I mean, why associate with that on purpose? And for the children born on September 11th, here’s hoping they can make the distinction between the two events, the good and the bad, and don’t become bogged down by them.

I wonder about that, sometimes, because it was only fairly recently (like twelve years?) when I became cognizant of the historical signifigance of my birthday’s anniversary (also, in 1974, Nixon resigned, not such a big thing compared to the other). I’m twenty-seven today, but I don’t really think much about the day that saw all those people snuffed out — really, I just think about myself.

To be specific: “I’ll be thirty in three years!”

I’m selfish like that.