Wedding Picture, Sunday, September 13, 1987

I really like Fibonacci numbers.  I love their sequence in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… It’s the predictability that I find comforting.  And I never cease being amazed at how they also appear in nature — in the arrangement of leaves on a stem or the branching of trees or in the positioning of a pinecone’s bracts.   In fact, I think it was during an environmental education class at Coyote Canyon State Park in CA back in the 60s that I was first introduced to Fibonacci (1170-c.1240-50) the Italian mathematician from the Republic of Pisa.

Charlie’s Birthday/date — Wednesday, May 30, 1956

I wish he had extended his mathematical wizardry to our calendar.  Perhaps he could have figured out how to make the days and dates more predictable.  As in, why couldn’t my birthday have ALWAYS been on a Friday? After all, we are supposedly celebrating our birthDAY not our birthDATE.  I’m sure Signor Fibonacci could have re-adjusted Julius Caesar’s changes to our calendar so that little kids (and moms and dads) could plan ahead for their special day.

What brings all this to mind is that Nyel and I were married on September 13, 1987 — a Sunday — at a surprise ceremony during the 3rd Annual Oysterville Croquet and Champagne Gala.   In my mind, today should be the day we celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary.  But… no.  Obviously, Fibonacci was not consulted and so, if we remember, we’ll celebrate tomorrow. On a Monday!  So wrong, doncha think?  So very very wrong.

And, furthermore, the Sunday after Labor Day was sunny for every single one of our sixteen (or was it eighteen?) croquet galas.  I’m not sure that has been true since, but maybe Signor F. could have factored the weather in, as well.  Or perhaps John Dalton, 18th century British weather pioneer could have worked on that problem.  Just sayin’…