In celebration of Pi Day

There were no celebrations in Algebra class when I went to school. It wasn’t until 1988 that Pi Day began to be celebrated. That’s when Larry Shaw, a physicist at the San Francisco Exploratorium, led the staff in a march around a circular space followed by a feast of fruit pies (ref. Wikipedia).

With the advent of social media, Pi Day has become better known. It is celebrated on March 14, or 3/14. If you recall those formulas from Algebra class, you know that the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant is approximately 3.14159. It is used to calculate the circumference of a circle (π x diameter, or 2π x radius).

Well, today was March 14, or 3.14, or Pi Day. I was reminded of that when I first looked at Facebook, so I had a little fun asking a couple of my co-workers if they knew it was Pi Day. Both of them had also seen it.

One then asked the big question: “What do you do to celebrate Pi Day?”

After a little brainstorming, we supposed the thing to do would be to eat pie. But what kind of pie, and what if one is trying not to eat pastries and dessert?

That’s when the brilliant idea surfaced. The menu item for supper should be Shepherd’s Pie! We shared a laugh and parted ways.

At lunch time, I gave my husband, Lyle, a phone call. He is the one who usually makes our supper. “Want a menu idea for supper?” I asked him. “We could have Shepherd’s Pie.” I shared the explanation of where I was coming from with the idea, but he didn’t sound too impressed.

At 5:00 pm, Lyle picked me up from work. But he did not drive down the usual street toward home. I wondered what he was up to. Were we picking up the mail? No, he drove past the mall. Was it maybe more bird seed he was after? No, he turned before Peavey Mart.

He parked at Humpty’s restaurant, then informed me that we were going out for supper. He had enlisted daughter’s help and had found out that Humpty’s menu included Shepherd’s Pie.

  

When we ordered, I shared a condensed version of the story with the waitress. She looked a little bewildered but caught the humor of the occasion. When she brought the skillets to the table it was with a big smile and “Happy Pi Day!”. Even better, she joined the fun and took 10% off our bill.

I would like to have seen my co-worker’s face when she read my text message, “At humptys, they serve shepherds pie”. Her reply was, “Oh. Nice!!”

Someone once said, “Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.” We’re never too old to have fun. Besides, it was a way to decide what to have for supper. I can’t remember ever ordering Shepherd’s Pie at a restaurant before.

So whether you ever liked math class or not, have a happy pi day!