I was feeling good leaving my bedroom after seeing a Jeopardy contestant, a young man, an oral-facial surgeon, win.

He was asked midway in the contest what he would do with his winnings. He said that with “whatever little or much of it”, he’d have a boathouse built at a school and to name it after his little brother. A high school rower, his brother died of brain cancer just a year ago. That made me root for him to win.

When it was time to reveal the answers to the final question, he was the only one who gave the correct answer. As he was being announced the winner, the camera quickly focused on him. He had his right hand covering his mouth as he looked straight into the camera with raised inner eyebrows like he was about to cry. He then removed his hand, showed his pearly whites, and pointed a finger up as he gazed above. Well, I was so happy for him that I got teary-eyed.

I left my bedroom singing the first line of the song, “The High and the Mighty”, and just hummed the rest of the verse since I could not remember the rest of the lyrics. As I was about to hum the next verse, I stopped in the middle of the house, wondering what prompted me to sing the theme song from the 1954 movie of the same name, “The High and the Mighty” with John Wayne, having not heard it since I left the Philippines in 1969.

Except for my rapid blinking and scrunched up face, I stood frozen on the carpeted floor as I tried to find the connecting link between the Jeopardy win and the song.

Having found none, I just shook my head and finished humming the song. I continued to feel good for the young man and also for staying inside the house while the Canadian wildfire smoke lingered outside.

Hmm … there are things that just can’t be easily explained.