It seems like my life,  and how I perceive my life,  is often full of “funny peculiar” episodes. Maybe your life is like that too.  I don’t know. Of course, there’s a very real possibility that I simply think too much about what I see as a never-ending parade of peculiarities in my life.

Much of what is odd in my life is of my own making. For example, a while back, I bought a bottle of water in the discount department store “Ross – Dress for Less.” I believe I paid $1.99 (comparable value: $3.00, it stated on the label) for 28.74 fluid ounces of plain ol’ water.

Why did I buy it? – Because it’s water from Norway. I have been in the town of Voss, Norway, but, ironically, that’s not where Voss water originates. It is bottled in Vatnestrom, a village 250 miles away from Voss. Isn’t it strange though, funny peculiar actually, that water is shipped from a village in Norway to the USA to be sold to dorks like me?

The next peculiarity (to me anyway) that I’d like to mention is something I heard in the news some time ago from a couple of sources. This “peculiarity” has been ongoing for a few years.

The first place I heard about this was on the TV program “CBS Sunday Morning.”  My wife records that show and sometimes I’m around to watch it with her.

I learned that there is a “Minister of Loneliness” in the United Kingdom. Stephanie Peacock is currently in this position to address “the sad reality of modern life.” The department was formed to “tackle the scourge of isolation.”  Japan has followed Britain’s example and established the same type of government office.

This seems strange, and to some almost laughable, but I guess research is showing that loneliness is a real problem. They figure that nearly half of adults in  Britain are occasionally lonely and 7.1% are often or always feeling lonely.

Here in the USA, research from former surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, calls loneliness a “growing health epidemic.”

A report in the “Harvard Business Review” states that social isolation is “associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”

Another bit of peculiarity.  Last month, we traveled to the Salt Lake Valley for a concert.  The old rock band “Chicago” played at the Sandy Amphitheater.  My sister and her husband joined us for the summer evening of dinner and music.

The band sounded great and it was a wonderful time of being transported into the past. Music can do that.

The peculiar part is that we paid pretty big money for that experience and traveled “up North” for it.  Even more peculiar, we had traveled hundreds of miles to Las Vegas a few years ago for the purpose of seeing the same band.

We could have sat at home and listened to the studio albums of that group and received much of the same enjoyment. But – there’s something inexplicably attractive about the “live and in person” experience. It’s a bit of a funny peculiar situation.

It’s the same story with sporting events.  The best seat for football is on the couch at home.  Call me weird (or funny peculiar), but when I can, I like to be sitting in a stadium, rain or shine, straining to see and getting excited by the “live and in person” feeling of the game.

We sat through a rain storm in Manti last Friday night and watched my grand-nephew quarterback the Richfield Wildcats as they thumped Manti’s Templars.  We greeted the winners after the game.  I swallowed hard and declared that it was a good night to be a Wildcat – even though it’s been 55 years since I graduated as one.

We also choose to travel and sit in Lavell Edwards Stadium in Provo for home games at BYU.  We’ve done that for many years.  We got “re-seated” a year ago, so we’ve been making friends with our new seat neighbors.

Last year at a game, I was holding my ten-year-old granddaughter’s nearly full, big bag of popcorn. Something crazy happened.  BYU Cougar Parker Kingston, bobbled a Kansas State (also Wildcats) punt, then secured it, and then ran 90 yards for a touchdown.

As Parker broke free and began running, a new “stranger to me seatmate” and I randomly put our arms around each other and started jumping up and down and yelling.  Strangely, I was yelling, “Run Forrest Run!”

When the touchdown was scored,  we came to our senses and found our minds, which we had lost, and introduced ourselves.  Popcorn was spilled everywhere.  There was about an inch of popcorn left in the big bag.

Clean-up staff was called.  After seeing what had happened, Scout, my granddaughter, decided she’d had enough popcorn.

Funny peculiar — or maybe, just funny. — Merrill