Travels with Swami - Chapter 19. Upland Hills Farm School

And then a funny thing happened.

How many times have we heard it? How many times have we said it?

I was going about my business … blah-blah-blah-blah …and then a funny thing happened.

Sometimes it’s said sardonically, because what happened wasn’t funny at all. Other times a funny thing did happen, something that made you laugh out loud.

Most often it refers to a surprising twist that changed your life path, usually for the better.

So … it was January 1973 and Jackie and I were on the Capital Mall as part of the non-celebration of Richard Nixon taking the “oaf of office” at an event called the In-Hog-uration. Four years earlier, the Yippies ceremoniously installed an actual pig. I believe his name was Pigasus. Anyway, no pig this year.

You’ll see two pictures of the day. Just as Richard Nixon was solemnly swearing inside, there was plenty of not-so-solemn swearing outside. One chant I remember was “Kick Dick in his inaugural balls.”

As an aside, that was the very day that my future friend and collaborator, Joseph McCormick, at age ten was on his way to the real event with his dad. “See those people?” his dad said, pointing to the (dis)likes of me. “They HATE America.”

We’ll pick that story up later …