It happened This week!

● The most profitable romantic comedy of all time, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, hit theaters in 2002. After Rita Wilson, the wife of Tom Hanks, saw the original stage version of the show, she encouraged him to turn it into a film. It almost didn’t happen, though, because when Hanks called the writer, actress Nia Vardalos, to discuss it, she thought it was a prank and hung up on him!

● Disney’s Animal

Kingdom, its largest theme park, opened in

1998. The 580-acre park is home to 1,000 animals, as well as a four-storyhigh exact replica of Sue, the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex ever discovered, which was 65 million years old! ● The nation’s first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. Created to increase environmental awareness, Earth Day isn’t just observed in North America. It is now the world’s largest secular holiday and is celebrated by more than one billion people globally! ● The nation’s oldest marathon—the Boston

Marathon— was run for the first time in 1897. Originally a small event with only 15 runners, it has now become New England’s most widely viewed sporting event with more than 30,000 participants and 500,000 spectators! ● Seattle’s famous Space Needle opened its observation deck in 1962. Nicknamed the “space cage,” the landmark was the inspiration for the sky-pad apartment buildings in the cartoon series The Jetsons! ● Canadian country music superstar Shania Twain released her self-titled debut album in 1993. Now one of the bestselling artists of all time, she got her start by cleaning her voice coach’s house to pay for singing lessons!