Strange(?) things happening

A couple of things happened to me this morning that at the time I thought strange (and called them so when I first reported them; since then I've added the "(?)" to the title):

The first thing

I was somewhat shocked (me, a professed atheist) to realize I'd just said "God bless you" to someone! A friend had come by my office with his little daughter. The occasion was that it's his last day here before he moves on to a new job. Well, when I saw the surpassingly warm and loving image of him and his little girl standing in my doorway, I of course realized immediately that he had brought her to work as a very special way of greeting his friends and saying "good-bye." And, without a moment's hesitation or thought, I stood up, stepped forward and kneeled down with my arms out for the girl, who looked to be about two feet tall as she came forward to touch me without the least sign of fear or hesitation of her own. I said, "Your daddy must have told you I'm okay! I don't think I've ever seen such a fearless little girl!"

And that's when I looked up at my friend and blurted out, "God bless you!" And even though I then had the thought, Of course, there's no god to do so, it still felt right, or at least okay, to have said this, for it expressed my sentiment of "all the best to you and your family," whatever the words used.

The second thing

A little later I got a telephone call from someone who said she was a North Carolina artist in need of an attorney, and she wanted to know if I could help her get in touch with John Edwards. He might be looking for some other work now that he's made his announcement. (I get such calls because my name appears prominently on a certain page of the University of North Carolina website, and both my office and the Edwards' home are located in Chapel Hill.)

I of course didn't ask the caller why she wanted someone to represent her in a malpractice suit....

Afterword

Of course, neither thing is particularly strange. I suppose that their coming so close together (both being very unusual) made them seem strange to me at the time.

The first thing, the "slip of the tongue" (for that's what it was), was prompted by the strength of a past association, which has by no means dissolved, whatever my rational thinking is.

The second thing, though unusual (saying it was very unusual is stretching it, for I get some...strange queries), would have been pretty unremarkable on its own.