Dating Patrick

"Hey Marty, do remember how cold it was on October 2, 1974, that we had snow flurries?"

"Well, no, I can't say that I do."

"Oh. It was warm enough four days later that we were wearing shorts again."

"No kidding?" This is a typical quick conversation with my brother Patrick. He has always had a fascination with dates and can remember things far out of my memory. You tell him the exact date of your birth and he will immediately tell you the day of the week it was. He has the calendar ingrained in his mind for 800 years: 400 years forward and 400 years back. There's a cycle to it he tells me, but I can't fathom it. It's all pretty amazing. And as demonstrated, he can recall things I never would.

We all remember birthdays. Pat would tell me when my kids were 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 days old. The anniversaries of auto accidents, or the day the family got a dog or cat, when he first ate pizza, he remembers like yesterday. And then there's the odd factoid like the cold on 10/2/74, or the record warmth on April 12, 1977.

It was 89. I know because he told me so. And you can look it up.