Just One of Those Things

Lucy and I were at J.C. Penny a couple of weeks ago and bought 4 new white dress shirts; but I picked up the wrong size neck size by half a size. It would be easy to correct the next time we were close, just exchange them for the proper size.


Saturday on our date night we went to Chili’s over by Willow Brook Mall so we took the shirts and sales receipt along with us. After diner we showed the sales clerk our bag of shirts and explained how all we needed was to swap our 4 shirts; nothing is that simple anymore. Their inventory system needed to show which shirts had been returned by neck size, the old sales receipt voided and a new transaction completed. It worked to our advantage because we happened to be there on ‘back to school sales tax free weekend’; we got a little over five dollars refunded.


While standing at the cash register a young man approached another sales clerk and asked if anyone had turned in a set of car keys. I felt a smile forming having overheard his misfortune and handed him my business card, “If you can’t find them, give me a call later on”. He looked at my locksmith card and put it in his pocket; but never called back that evening so I figured he found his keys.


Sunday afternoon my business phone rang and it was the sister of the fellow who’d lost his keys at the mall. She wanted to set up an appointment for Monday morning; the keys were no where to be found.


I was watching an interesting movie about the life of song writer Cole Porter, De-Lovely . Interesting may be the wrong descriptive word, depressing and outrageous might fit; perhaps the only reason I continued watching was for the phenomenal music which the man produced.


A phone call to my folks this morning after having made the key at the mall found me expressing all these experiences. My mother remarked, upon hearing about my fortuitous moment of having been standing at the cash register and overhearing the young man who’d lost his keys, “Well, it was just one of those things”. Call it subliminal if you want; but Cole Porter wrote a tune by that title, “Just one of those things”.


Many artists took a turn with those great lyrics; Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey and my favorite by Nat King Cole. What a great way to start of the week; but it was just one of those things.