Penny for your thoughts

These things don't happen to me. I suspect, if this pans out, they don't happen to you either.

Took my dog Lucy out for a walk the other day. Like many dogs, particularly older dogs, she's 11, Lucy can be very picky about where she hunches her back, puts on the face of shame, and deposits her business. 

On this morning she was extremely selective. To the point of me looking at her, "What are you waiting for,  an invitation? Take a shit already, I have bills to pay and excruciating hip pain meds to take."

I'm no stranger to this behavior as I, too, am very discerning about where and when I do my business. Reluctantly, in public. Perhaps the details are left better unsaid, but out of misplaced loyalty to my past employer, I would always opt for a Denny's. 

If it was an emergency.

As Lucy eventually concluded, after spotting the picture perfect "unloading zone", we headed back to the house. And that's when I looked down and spotted a penny. It was right in front of the old and now defunct Westcott Bed and Breakfast Inn, up the street from my Palm Springs rental.

Contrary to some of the old ethnic canards about people of Hebraic Seasonings, I don't make it habit of picking up pennies spotted on the sidewalk. Or in this case, an old gravel frontage that greeted guests at the Westcott. But having endured two weeks of illness and three weeks of political upchucking, I decided to pick up the head facing coin, in hopes of turning my luck.

Upon further examination, this was (and still is) no ordinary penny. 

I know what to look for in a penny from a brief tutorial given to me by my father who came of age when young boys collected coins. I think he gave it up when he started smoking Lucky Strikes at age 9. As many Bronx boys did. Just prior to learning cat calls and grabbing one's crotch.

This beat up old penny, that I normally would have ignored, is a 1944 D. That's older than me. Not by much, but still older. And it's a D, which probably means something. Just not to me. Or probably to you as well.

But that's where the magic of AI and a lesson in numismatics comes in handy. 

It's still early in the morning and I haven't had my fourth cup of coffee yet, meaning I have no reason to believe this is going to pan out. Remember, I said these things don't happen to me. 

But there's this...

I'm far too old to get way out in front of my skis. Especially with this bum hip that needs replacing. So I'm going to tread lightly here. 

But this could be the thing, a little innocent penny, that keeps me out of a Dirty Nursing Home!

Bring on the thoughts and prayers and advanced numismatic knowledge. Please.