This is a month for potpourri. To be sure here it will be meant as a jumble of thoughts for a month that is most important to me. April is, among other things, a most interesting month all in itself.
Over the centuries it has jumped around on the yearly calendar from first up to fifth and then our friend Julius Caesar settled it as the fourth month. It seems in the old days the order of months were not settled and folks just changed them. Personally, I am glad because it is hard enough to keep track of things like birthdays when they come at the same time of the year.
Which reminds me, for those of you who might remember, last month I was worried about renewing my driver’s license or possibly getting , worst case scenario, deported to Tahiti. I can tell you this is not being written in Tahiti.
However, sad to say, I no longer have a driver’s license. It seems when I was taking the vision test I couldn’t even find the little line that I was supposed to read. Neither my eye Dr. nor I were really surprised. I have been missing letters on his eye chart quite frequently.
The good news is that I now have a Texas ID card. This is the substitute for non-drivers who need to show identification. It even has a picture of me on it. The one on the driver’s license was better but then I am older. Actually, it is probably for the best for safety I stopped driving a couple of years ago.
But move on through the potpourris. One of the delightful things about April, other than my birthday, is that many other folks have the same birthday month. Did you know that in a random group of 23 there is a 50/50chance two will have the same birthday? In a group of 76 that jumps to almost a hundred percent chance. I have experienced that surprising phenomena in a group of 23.
Another thing about April is that we are not sure exactly why it is called April. The theory that seems the most popular is that it is a slight corruption of the Latin word that means to open. This is because here in the northern hemisphere it is Spring and flowers and trees start to open (bloom). In the southern hemisphere it marks the beginning of Autumn so I guess they think of pumpkins.
Another mystery is why the birthstone of April is a diamond. Now we all know that diamonds are a girl’s best friend and that it is the stone for weddings. Digging a little deeper we find that back in 1477 he Archduke of Austria started the diamond engagement ring thing. If Julius Caesar set up April back in BC, then the Archduke was not following the calendar thing for weddings. And by the time you read this I will be riding not driving into my 83rd year.
