September 21st World Gratitude Day

There are so many things in this world that I am grateful for. And while so many of us know this, we often do not take the time to think about them.  Well today is a day to reflect on just what makes us happy and that we are grateful has come to be.

The United Nation’s Mediation Group created today in 1965, during the cold war era. In a world where we seem to always look for the worst life offers, there are things we can truly be grateful for. Even if it is a simple as the sun rising every day. We can be grateful for our families, our friends and our pets… for they are all God sent… we did nothing to deserve them or earn them, they just came to be.

There are so many things we just take for granted, expecting that they will always be there. They may not be, and we need to appreciate them while we have them before they disappear on us. I hear so many people complain about the way the world is, but it is what we have helped to make it. And it’s not like there is any other place to go.

And we do get tired of people, but without them this would be a very lonely place. Imagine yourself totally alone in the world. No services, no friends, no love… just existence. To truly understand, we need a day like today where we actually examine those things we are grateful for, things provided for us that we did not have to provide for ourselves.

Because when you truly look at it, there is a lot to grateful for, those things that we just accept and believe to be a part of everyday life. Those people that surround us making our days better and all those who came before us who got us where we are. No, it’s not perfect, but then…. neither we are we.

How to celebrate – Show someone you are grateful to them today. Make up you own award for someone you are grateful to. Thank God for giving us another day on this imperfect earth.

 

Advertisements

September 20th National Punch Day

Today we all should enjoy our punch, even if you have to throw a special party to share it in. There are so many things you can add to a punch to make it different that the choices are nearly unlimited.  Fruit, ice cream, rum, vodka, soda, nearly anything goes well, depending on your base.

Punch has been around for a long, long time. It has always been served at parties and banquets and other social gatherings. It has been blamed for the young getting their first taste of alcohol. And as such, many recipes have been handed down over the years. Here are a few recipes you might enjoy.

Just don’t order punch in Hawaii. (The joke from Would you like a nice Hawaiian punch!) The word punch comes from Sanskrit, which comes to us from India, where “punch” was served including 5 ingredients. Alcohol, lemon, water, sugar and tea, or other spices. The English sailors brought back the idea to England and it spread from there.

Naturally, in the olden days, alcohol made a lot of foods and drinks served saver since water was often suspect. A punch also served a large number of people making it economical.For years only lemon was used to flavor the punch served, but over the years other flavors were discovered and now, lemon seems to be one of the least served punches.

It also makes for a great Halloween treat when dry ice is added to make it fog. In fact it’s hard to find a holiday of any type where punch isn’t served. It’s fun and easy to make, is refreshing and nearly always a hit at parties.

How to celebrate – Make some punch today, it doesn’t need to be a special occasion. Invent your own punch recipe. Make up your own punch for every season.

September 19th International Talk Like A Pirate Day

There seems to be a strong interest in pirates these days. Maybe it’s the romance of the era (though romance had nothing to do with being a pirate), the open seas (though many pirates spent a great deal of their time hiding), or the way they dressed (layers of clothing making them extremely hot). Well “Avast Ye” (meaning pay attention) you Freebooters (a term for a pirate)…it comes from a racquet ball game.

John Baur and Mark Summers were playing racquet ball on June 6th, 1995 when they began to talk like a pirate to each other. Naturally, one thing led to another and they decided they needed to create a day for their lingo. Mark chose September 19th because it was his wife’s birthday – “Blimey” (meaning surprise). I wonder if he was “Three Sheets To The Wind” (drunk).

Of course, maybe his wife liked to dress like a pirate, which today can be very sexy. I doubt he meant to call her a “Scallywag” (an insult) and definitely not a “Hornswaggler” (a cheat).  It’s fun to speak pirate speak. Sometimes it doesn’t make a lot of sense but who cares.

Sadly this year Krispy Kreme is not giving a free doughnut if you go in and talk like a pirate to them.

It does make me wonder though, do pirates have a “Talk like a normal person Day”? And then there is always, “what makes a normal person person normal”?

How to celebrate – Use a lot of “Rrrrrs” today. Read a book about pirates. Go play racquet ball.

September 18th National Cheeseburger Day

So after the founding fathers finished writing the Constitution they celebrated by having cheeseburgers the next day! Well, maybe not really but it could have happened. You know, a big cookout outside the Hall where all the founding fathers got together for a picnic!

I find it interesting that two of America’s favorite foods come from cattle, hamburger and cheese. Now I know, a lot of hamburgers today are made out of turkey and that goats produce cheese as well, but come on… give credit where credit is due.

No one really knows when the cheeseburger became all that popular. Maybe it was after Saturday Night’s depiction of no hamburger, cheeseburger only. However I know I was eating hamburgers long before that!  And I am sorry but, a veggie burger with fake cheese is not a “cheeseburger”.

And naturally, it’s bad for you. Seems like anything good is actually bad. So maybe we should cut back on them, but we can’t cut them out completely. Besides, we’d put McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and who ever else is known for their cheeseburgers out of business.

How to celebrate – Eat a cheeseburger today. Have a cook-out. Appear on Saturday Night Live.

September 17th Constitution Day

We celebrate our Constitution today, a document that literally took years to draft. It was finally agreed upon on September 17th, 1787. It did not go into effect until March 4th, 1789. This is the document that makes us who we are. Whether you like it or not, believe in it or not, accept it or not… it is the law and moral fiber of those that formed this Union.

This country has been through a lot, including a Civil War that tried desperately to divide the Union. So far, it has held together. Personally I believe the founders were brilliant men, of course they had suffered through and tried to avoid all the pitfalls they had seen from other forms of government.

There have been changes, arranged for by those founding the document, in the forms of amendments. They knew their document would need to be adjusted over the years, they even planned for it.

Now no one knows the future and if we are smart, we will learn from our past. Is the constitution perfect? Probably not, but it is as perfect as humans can ever be. Try and find a better written document, I don’t think you will. Anything that starts out, “We he People”, cannot be all bad.

How to celebrate – Read the constitution. Read the amendments. Study our founding fathers.

September 16th Wife Appreciation Day

Today we celebrate our wives for who they are and what they bring to our lives. It was designed to replace Mother’s Day for those marriages that do not have children. (Or at least little ones) To me a mother and a wife are, in a way, two different people and we men need to celebrate our wives for being a wife as well.

When we are young a wife is there to support us  and grow with us. They are the apple of our eye and we desperately want to be their hero. The thing is, they are more our heroine than we will ever be their hero. They do not marry us (Normally) because we are sexy, rich or will make all their dreams come true. (Of course there are exceptions)

By the time we reach our middle ages men realize they can no longer be that knight in shining armor but we still want to be. We certainly are as sexy and we often have forgotten what their dreams are. But they are still there making our dreams come true and they have shared or victories and defeats.

By the time we get older we begin to gripe about all that we could have done, or could have been and yet they are still beside us. Still routing us on even when we have no place left to go. Whether a woman has had an actual child to raise or not she has still remained a wife and raised a child… her husband.

So the old adage proves true, happy wife, happy life. Marriage is much more than having a child, in many ways a=it’s all about remaining a child and growing together… for better or for worse.

How to celebrate – Thank your wife for being your wife today. Fix dinner for your wife, or if you cook like me… take them out to dinner. Remember all the things your wife means to you, even when it sometimes seems impossible to do.

September 15th Make A Hat Day

According to the calendar, we are all supposed to make hats today. If you keep it simple, it’s easy enough to do, the more complicated it gets the longer it will take. There is something in that I see mimicking life a lot.

When we are young we wear several hats. A child and a son or daughter. It does not take a lot of effort on our part to achieve either end. We blunder our way through the day either doing childish things or things may mirror our parents. It is a learning experience as we decide what we will do when we get older.

As we age, we become husbands and wives, employees and employers, a parent and still a son or daughter but with far different requirements,soul mates and enemies… it is where life takes a turn and we become busier and some of the hats we wear are difficult. They take longer to complete and change a great deal from day to day. Some are very serious, like being a surgeon or mentor, others less so like a clown or a hobo. But even the lesser hats we wear are more complicated and difficult than when we were children.

Some hats identify who we are and what we do. A helmet for a soldier is still a hat but it is a lot more dangerous than a helmet for a football player. (Though football can still be dangerous) The point is, we wear many, many hats and the idea of being able to make our own today lets us step out of our comfort zone, either to be more serious or more fun.

So make your own hat today and wear it proudly. It doesn’t matter what its made out of, it only matters how we wear it.

How to celebrate – Make your own hat today. Make hats for your friends that fit what you see in them. Start a hat collection.