September 6: Grocery Carts, Consecutive Games & Columbus

Some days coast by unnoticed. September 6 is not one of them. This is a date that invented the shopping cart's natural habitat, watched a baseball legend refuse to take a sick day, and sent a very optimistic Italian sailor across an ocean with a questionable map. Buckle up.

The Day We Learned to Shop for Ourselves

In 1916, the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, opened in Memphis, Tennessee. Before this glorious moment, you had to hand a clerk a list and hope they didn't judge your snack choices. Piggly Wiggly said, "No, wander the aisles yourself and make impulse decisions like a free adult." Every time you toss a random bag of chips in your cart, thank Memphis.

Meanwhile in 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from San Sebastián de La Gomera in the Canary Islands on his first voyage across the Atlantic. He was aiming for Asia. He got the Americas. Honestly, one of history's more famous wrong turns that somehow worked out.

Showing Up Is Half the Battle

In 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. played his 2,131st consecutive Major League Baseball game, breaking a 56-year-old record set by Lou Gehrig. That's decades of never once calling in with a mysterious cough. Iron Man indeed. And in 2000, the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the first Pride Night in Major League Baseball history, proving America's pastime had room for everyone in the stands.

The Birthday Lineup

September 6 delivers a genuinely stacked roster. In 2002, Canadian tennis player Leylah Fernandez was born — the woman who charmed a US Open crowd and swung her way to a Grand Slam final while barely out of her teens. Sharing the day is American actor Asher Angel (2002), who charmed a different crowd as the kid version of a superhero. And in 2001, English actress Freya Allan arrived, later slaying monsters in "The Witcher." Not a bad group photo.

A Salute and a Flag

Over in Pakistan, September 6 is Defence Day, also known as Army Day — a genuine national holiday marked with parades and pride. Elsewhere, the Caribbean island of Bonaire waves its own banner for Flag Day. So today is a two-flag, one-salute kind of occasion, depending on your longitude.

So there you have it: September 6, the day we started shopping for ourselves, refused to skip work, and set sail toward the wrong continent with spectacular results. Go celebrate by pushing a cart around and simply refusing to quit.