Was
texting the other day. Meant to write calendar. I didn’t.
I
have no clue what I originally texted. Autocorrect took over,
as it so often does, and replaced whatever gobbledygook I wrote
with something else. For whatever reason though, instead of making
the move I imagine just about all of us routinely make to send
the text while spotting the error later, I actually caught it.
What
autocorrect had done was adjust whatever letters I had combined
while intending to write calendar and inserted cake day.
Cake
day.
Really.
There
it was.
And
I found myself wanting some cake.
It
was a new feeling for me. No, not the cake. The text. After all,
we can all relate to the damn autocorrect follow up text virtually
every one of us has sent when we spot a change to what we thought
we had pieced together.
Cake
day, though, yeah. That one was different. Funny. And how did
my smartphone… the same one that has made so many mistakes that
looked absolutely undecipherable later on… know that I might want
some cake? (Or, better yet, an entire day of cake?)
Once
in a while—and with technology, once in a great while, a really
rare while—something unintended works out in a marvelously unexpected
way.
Do
you buy lottery tickets? Every so often I do. And when filling
out the slip to select my numbers, there have been times when
I make a mistake. Let’s say I want 2 – 4 – 6 – 8 – 10 and 12,
but fill in the little boxes for 2 – 4 – 6 – 8 – 9 and 12. What
to do? Easy. You buy a ticket for the error slip and then fill
out another one for the choices you wanted to make.
Could
you imagine filling out the winning numbers, by accident, tossing
aside while saying “oops” only to have to live with that one actually
winning? Of course not, because you buy the darn error as well.
The
thing is, I haven’t yet had to figure out how to accept my multimillion
dollar lottery ticket error winnings. So, I’m not sure if that
counts.
But
the reality of the idea does apply. The world isn’t a perfect
place. Mistakes and trips and miscalculations and falls and tongue
twisters happen all the time. Perfection is… to be a bit silly
and perhaps way too philosophical… imperfect.
Which
brings us back to celebrating cake day. An unintended mistake
that works. I even liked the idea that while I meant to type calendar,
autocorrect made a selection to replace it was a celebration I
would put on a calendar. Kind of a full circle connection, a happy
accident when more often you’re left wondering how the heck the
word inserted was even remotely associated with what you were
typing.
For
those of you that may be wondering, the best way to end this essay
is letting you know that national cake day is November 26th according
to most sites that track and list such unofficially official dates.
And because… well, yes, cake… January 27th is national chocolate
cake day. You’re welcome.
Celebrate
however you wish. Celebrate on as many days as you wish. Add it
to your calendar. And, text your friends to remind them.