Flotsam and Jetsam
Here’s a bit of trivia for this week. Yesterday, Tuesday the 19th was the day of the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. If that sounds wrong because we always think of March 20th/21st as the first day of spring, it turns out that leap year matters. That little calendar correction we make every four years changes the calendar date for the beginning of spring each Leap Year. So, spring arrived on Tuesday at 11:06 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). I found a full explanation of this little tidbit at https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/nature/outdoors/earliest-vernal-equinox-in-128-years-happens-in-2024#
Reading that page, I also learned another new and obscure fact about leap years. Adding a day every four years actually over corrects so we need to skip a leap year and there’s a rule about that. We skip a leap year when the year can be divided by 100 but not by 400. (Is your head spinning?) That means we skipped leap year in 1900 (divisible by 100 but not by 400) but had leap year in 2000 (divisible by both). I’d never heard about this second rule, but found it fascinating, but of course, I love odd bits of information.
I have been known to say that I have a mind for trivia since little odd facts like this stick when sometimes other more important items slide away. (By the way, the word trivia is from the Latin meaning three [tri] roads [via]. Somewhere along the way I learned that signposts at such intersections were often used to post bits of information leading to our current use of the word, but that may be apocryphal because I can’t find a source for it.) I guess it’s part of my Learner and Input Strengths, but like the facts about Leap Years above, I do enjoy going down rabbit holes to learn more about obscure ideas, places, facts, etc.
Several years ago, in the Seattle airport, I picked up a small book called Taking Things Seriously: 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance. Pictured on its pages are 75 wildly varied things faced by 75 short essays. A bear lamp, a tiny little pinecone, a Zippy beverage bottle, a handful of dirt, to list a few of the items pictured. The authors describe the items as “…ordinary things instilled with extraordinary significance”. “[C]ontributors to this volume… do much more than catch a glimpse of things. They single things out, linger over them obsessively, then share their excitement and bemusement, their embarrassment and joy with the rest of us.” There is meaning in the ‘things’ pictured for each contributor. The authors call this book “…an old fashioned wonder cabinet: it’s an assemblage of this, that, and the other thing. Its sole purpose is to invite [the reader] to participate in the enjoyable act of interpreting the meaning of things.”
This book is so much fun. I love looking at the odds and ends in it and reading the accompanying essay. It reminds me that each of us attach importance to a wide variety of experiences and things and often, it’s unclear to others why in the world some things matter as they do. But that’s the point isn’t it? It’s that each of us take different things seriously. Each of us have different responses to the facts we learn, the bits of flotsam and jetsam that wash into our lives, and the odd little objects we collect.
In our work world we talk about the big picture and the little details. Being able to change perspective from the details to the big picture and back again is an important work and life skill. This little book and the bits of trivia we collect as we move through life remind us to add one more perspective – not all the details, but rather one little thing of significance. It could be that really tacky paperweight that sits on your desk – take a moment today to pick it up and really look at it and remember how and why you have it. Or stop when you hear yourself speaking a wisdom saying that you learned from a grandparent and remember how and when you would hear those words. Noticing one detail in this way can help ground us in a busy day and be one of those mental deep breaths that refresh us or re-connect us with what is important.
Today, I became intrigued with the fact that ways we try to make our sense of time conform to the workings of the universe. It’s not important to my daily life, but, it does add a new perspective on our place in the greater world. Why don’t you pick one object or idea of ‘unexpected significance’ and enjoy it—and perhaps share something (extra)ordinary with the people around you.
Take care,
Gage