Happy Friday! If you're new to Now I Know, you'll notice that today's format differs from the rest of the week. On Fridays, I pause to write the "Weekender," my  "week in review" type of thing, or to share something else I think you may find interesting. Thanks for reading! — Dan

Hi!

A case of Coke Zero. A stretch band for yoga, and a rolling mat to go with it, I guess. Seltzer. Ground coffee. Gluten-free pretzels and (non-gluten free) Goldfish. Two big containers of Tide. And a book on how to write a college essay.

That’s what appeared on my doorstep late Wednesday night, addressed to my teenage daughter who is a few years away from needing to write a college essay. They were in two large Amazon boxes. My wife and I didn’t order it. My daughter swore she didn’t either — something we quickly verified, but also weren’t surprised to hear because why would a teenager want two huge jugs of laundry detergent? Or a book on how to write an essay she’ll not want to write, even when it’s time?

Who sent this to us? And why? It was a mystery — and I was immediately hooked. Last year, I shared a quote by Nobel laureate Alice Munro: “The constant happiness is curiosity.” It’s a great quote, and I definitely believe it. In sharing that quote, I said that “to a large degree, curiosity is my superpower,” and I think that’s true. (I’ll have more to come on this in the upcoming weeks. And if you’re curious about this aside, email me at [email protected] with your guess about what I’m cooking up. If you get it right, I’ll give you a discount on what I’m doing… and yes, that’s a hint.) I was going to flex that superpower and figure out who sent my daughter all this stuff, and why.

My first guess is that it was an accident. My daughter’s name starts with “A” and therefore, is often at the top of lists ordered alphabetically by first name. If a friend of ours sent her a gift via Amazon, even a decade ago, her name and our address may appear toward the top of their Amazon address book. My second deduction was that they had a kid going into their senior or perhaps junior year in high school, given the book about college essays. As it turns out, I have a son who is that age, so we had a starting point.

I called up Amazon to see if they could help, and they mostly couldn’t. They could see the sender’s name but couldn’t disclose it to me, which I understand. Chad, the otherwise very helpful supervisor I spoke with offered to let me guess some names, so I asked my son for the last names of a bunch of his friends. One by one, I went down the list, and one by one, Chad said “no.” Ten, maybe fifteen names. Nothing. I thanked Chad anyway, hung up, and was almost ready to give up. But then I had one more idea.

Gift giving is often reciprocal, right? If someone sent my daughter a gift at some point, there’s a good chance we sent one to them along the way. I checked through our Amazon address book and found a potential match — a friend of ours with a daughter going into her senior year in high school. My wife called up the friend, asked if she had ordered a book on how to write a college essay, and immediately, heard back “yes… how did you know?”

Mystery: solved. It turns out that the friend had been sending stuff — intentionally — to another address, and had unchecked their home address as the default to not accidentally send the wrong items to the wrong place. They never rechecked the box and somehow accidentally selected our address instead.

The friend got their stuff from our house without further incident.

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Monday: He Bought His Freedom With Fake Money: A counterfeiter makes himself a fortune, including his own get-out-of-jail card.

Tuesday: The Baseball Player With The Special ID: Kevin Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks and the accidental slur?

Wednesday: The Dancing Plague: Like Footloose, but, well, not.

Thursday: The (Mistaken) Settlers of Yucatán: Etymologies can be funny.

Now I Know is supported by readers like you. Yes, you! Many of my readers donate a few dollars a month to help Now I Know grow and thrive. And in exchange, they get an ad-free version!

And thanks! — Dan

Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:

1) “The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.” (Texas Monthly, 18 minutes, August 2025). This isn’t an easy read. It’s a first-hand account of the flooding in Texas on July 4 — so it’s not for everyone.

2) “The 37 Definitive Rules of Going to the Theater” (Washington Post/gift link, 17 minutes, August 2025). I didn’t think much of this article at first, but then I saw that it was the Post’s most-shared article yesterday. There weren’t any surprises, except for, maybe, number 8. But I’m also not a big fan of doggie bags to begin with.

3) “Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who Is Stephanie Courtney?” (New York Times/gift link, 34 minutes, November 2023). Courtney has played the same role for 15 years, which is a very long time for any performer, let alone one who only exists in advertisements.

Have a great weekend!

Dan