THANK YOU FOR CELEBRATING EVERY DAY
WITH NATIONAL DAY CALENDAR®!
Repeating ourselves is something we do. Many of us have the same morning routine, take the same route to work every morning, play the same playlist over and over. But it’s more than a habit or a sense of deja vu.
Entertainment
There are some movies we keep on recall. They fit some arbitrary requirement for a minimum number of laughs, tears shed or pointless scenes they have somehow endeared us to hit the play button on repeat from time to time. Some of them are movie classics, and others make the list merely because they remind us of a time when things were different.
Sporting Events
Depending on the sport, fans may tire of repeats – as in back-to-back championship wins. In some sports, due to a large number of teams or participants, repeats are rare. These types of repeats increase the thrill of the game. In other fields of play, those repeats are as common as the cold and cause some apathy.
When you think athletics, from high school to the professional level, there is a range of options across the country. Basketball, rodeo, football, volleyball, golf and tennis, no matter the competition, at some point, if there are too many repeats, this is one place where a pattern becomes dull. We’ve seen it before; we’re ready for a new outcome.
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The first Scripps National Spelling Bee competition took place in 1925. Open to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders, the competition has never had a repeat winner because previous winners are ineligible to compete.
However, at least one speller placed third twice. Srinivas Ayyagari earned his third-place rankings in 1992 and 1994.
Marriage
According to the Pew Research Center, 40 percent of all marriages have at least one person for whom the marriage is a repeat. When the marriage is a repeat for both, the percentage is 20 percent. Men are more likely to say I do again than women. First marriages have a 50 percent failure rate. When it’s a repeat, the percentage increases to 67 percent.
Now, those marry the same person twice. While there are no statistics for the success rate of those marriages, one would hope that knowing the pitfalls going in would increase the success rate. Or maybe, we’re looking for a silver lining in this part of the article.
Leftovers
Some meals deserve an encore. While the food may have been delicious the first time, sometimes the repeat is so much better. Something happens overnight that allows the flavors to marry, creating a meal that seems to be taking a bow. Meatloaf, certain pasta dishes, and chili are just a few that seem to burst with flavor the next day.
However, there are some dishes that we should eat the first time and leave no scrap behind. Or, if we must, create a new meal from the leftover — no identical repeat. Steak and fries are one meal that makes a great breakfast with eggs. Slice up the steak and reheat while you fry up a couple of eggs with those fries.
