"Now I've Seen Everything" Department

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. You just never know when something absolutely bizarre is about to take place. One of those Twilight Zone kind of moments happened to my daughter Marie in San Diego on Thursday.

There she was watching the local news on TV when on came a story about an accident. Some dufus had run into a fire hydrant and broken it off from its moorings. The broadcast had footage of the resulting huge, photogenic geyser spewing water onto an adjacent three-story commercial building. The report continued that the water had pooled on the building's roof. Then the weight of the water caused the roof to collapse. You can see a report with a news photo of the incident here.

What a freakish turn of events, she was thinking. And then she started noticing how familiar that building was looking. Now where, where--oh no! That was the building with the bridal shop, the one where she'd bought her wedding dress, where they were keeping it until they made the alterations. Yes, THAT building. The one that was flooded, and with the roof caved in.

What a disaster. When she phoned she was incredulous, stunned and in a mild state of panic. The wedding's in January and things like wedding dresses can take a long time to find, fit and fix. Fortunately, she was able to contact another shop the very next day that was able to track down the same dress from the same maker and make it available to her.

It was only after that that I could say this is the kind of event that seems horrible at the time but is good for a lot of laughs in the retelling over the years. Something like this is better than anything somebody could make up.

Now everyone can relax. Or maybe not. Who knows what crazy improbability is going to happen next? Life is just one darn thing after another, but at least is serves to keep things interesting.