As a writer of any sort, details are important. In journalistic pieces, the correct details are critical. In fiction, the details can be parts of patterns, clues for the reader, used to set the scene, and to have fun with.
In real life, there is a randomness to details at times and this is one fun tale I wanted to share.
Recently, I was spending a Sunday with Little Sis (I’m part of Big Brothers Big Sisters), and in telling me a story (she’s 16), she mentioned that she has little kids call her Peanut Butter. Of course I asked why. She giggled and said because most little kids can’t pronounce her name, but they all like peanut butter and can say that.
Okay. We continued with our day. One stop was a used book store. As we were checking out, the booksmith randomly mentioned an article in a recent magazine for writers that talked about a particular writer’s passion for peanut butter.
All we had said to him before that was, ‘hi, thanks for having the AC on today.’ I wasn’t purchasing a magazine, hadn’t mentioned the author he brought up, and there was no way he could know about us and peanut butter. So random!
Later, Little Sis and I headed to a pet shop (it’s so fun to check out the cats up for adoption and roam the aisles to meet the dogs who get to shop with their owners.) As we’re driving to the pet store, we passed a Salvation Army location. On the sign, I can’t make this stuff up, was “Donations needed: peanut butter and ” (I can’t remember the second item).
Three times in less than 4 hours. What were the odds? I laughed, told her what I saw (we drove past too fast for me to read the sign, tell her, and for her to turn around to see it). She just said, “You’re weird, Lisa.”
We’re then at the pet store. We ooh and ahh at the cats and I read the details. No joke, one of the cats was named Peanut Butter. I threw up my hands, said “no way,” told Little Sis to check out the name, and then we both lost it to laughter. The cat was black and white.
Of all the places to run into ‘peanut butter’, I feel those are 4 unique ones. And they did all happen on 1 day. I haven’t seen any references to peanut butter out of context since.
I could write a fun children’s story from this, don’t you think?
Can you recall a time you had this type of randomness with something? Was it in real life, or something you read? Or maybe something you wrote?
Lisa J. Jackson is a New England-region journalist and a year-round chocolate and iced coffee lover. She’s been a Big Sister for over 7 years and enjoys time with her Little Sis. She writes fiction as Lisa Haselton, has an award-winning blog for book reviews and author interviews, and is on the staff of The Writer’s Chatroom. Connect with her on Facebook or Twitter.
Great read, can’t say I’ve been privileged to experience anything like that..
thanks for reading!
Weirdness happens to me all the time. I think the best stories spring up from the strangeness in life.
Write that story. It begs…
thanks, Laura
Here’s a story from a hike in Wyoming – we ran into someone coming the other way down the trail, who told us that the bridge across the Green River was out, but if we turned down a little side trail we would find a two log bridge. We did, and it worked. This bit of serendipity wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t talk to everyone I met on the trail. A similar view is “everything happens for a reason.” Ascribing a series of events to God is popular, but bad theology, especially if you have lost a child. As a writer, I am omnipotent and omniscient when in my story world, but in real life, things like Peanut Butter are a cause for wonder, and fun, and mean that you are paying attention.
I love serendipity – it’s so ‘random’ and usually perfect. Thanks for sharing the story.
I enjoy finding fun in daily life. (yesterday the Dunkin Donuts’ cashier and I started talking about the kid-like fun we can have eating a donut with sprinkles. I was avoiding sprinkles because I only thought of the mess I’d leave in my car, but she brought my perspective back to ‘fun’).
I have had random things happen to me, I will be wondering about a friend, one in particular comes to mind that this happens to more than any others… I think of her and she calls or I call her and she remarks how she was just writing me an email. We are not friends that call each other every day either…
Another one are my own life lessons. I have always held a huge platform about cheaters and have a hard time tolerating liars. Recently, I was contacted by my first love via facebook… over 3 decades later… I found myself caught up in a situation far removed from my character that it was chilling. NO excuses for me. But I have to say that it caused me to reflect on the lessons God gives us through our own stupidity. Hence; taking the boulder out of my own eye while commenting about the splinter in someone elses.
Cute little stories about Peanut Butter or other out of the blue happenings… large or small, makes me realize that Somebody else is in charge of it all and nothing is random!
Those phone call and e-mail happenings can be a bit freaky at times, can’t they? I haven’t had either of those happen in a while. I try not to let my brain get too carried away with the ‘nothing is random’ theory – I mean, I started to try to figure out why peanut butter was so important that day, but had to stop and just say ‘it was just a fun thing!’
Thanks for the comment.
One night earlier in the summer, my roommate and I were on our way home from fishing at the lake. We had gone the long way around so that we could stop for food, and were stopped at the light of a busy intersection. We had one of the local pop stations on. Both of us happened to glance at the car next to us at the same time, and the girl driving was apparently listening to the same station. She was singing and acting out the song with such feeling that we almost felt like we were in a music video. She was completely oblivious to the world around her, but we felt oddly connected to her pain.
That’s a different experience, Crystal. It definitely played with a lot of the senses, didn’t it? I think it’s fun to run up to a spirit like that – so lost in the moment and shutting out the rest of the world. Thanks for sharing!
Great story! Randomness happens to me all the time.
And it sounds like it’s a good thing, so that’s great!
It always amazes me that when I learn something new, I seem to see evidence of the fact all around me when it was never there before. Or was it that the attention is foused elsewhere and it was there all along?
I think you could do a great children’s story. I’m a big fan of serendipity.
I was working in a retail clothing store and had just received new business cards. One of the cards was printed on the backside, too. It had a woman’s name listed that I didn’t know. Being the pack rat that I am, I hung on to that card even though I didn’t know the woman. As I was searching for women to interview about breast cancer someone gave this woman’s name. When I went to do her interview, I showed her the business card.
In the same tone as saranell, I must say that when I was at a point in the very beginning when I needed some daily inspiration, I happened upon this blog just by “wandering” around trying to find a writer’s group in New Hampshire.
Sometimes timing is absolutely perfect and we’re not even trying.
These small events surprise and amaze us, don’t they?
We often get what we need when we least expect it.
Synchronicity would be a wonderful theme for a children’s story. They’d be better able to notice when it happens in their lives.
Such a cool series of events and you are so right – it would make a great little kids story…have fun with it.