There’s a day of the year for most everything
Published 9:15 am Monday, November 14, 2016
Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at hermionyvidaliabooks@gmail.com.
Today is America Recycles Day, National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day and Georgia O’Keefe’s birthday. In case you didn’t know, Georgia O’Keefe was an artist born in 1887, who transformed her subject matter into powerful abstract images. One of her quotes that I resonate with is: “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life — and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” The reason this quote speaks to me is I wish I wouldn’t have let terror keep me from doing what I wanted to do, but I have. Maybe if I would have found this quote earlier it might have inspired me to be braver.
First, I must clarify that I took this information from writer, Jill Badonsky, and her book the “Awe Manac.” It is a book I enjoy, and I take the time to check out the pages each day. As a writer, I am in awe of the amount of research that must have went into this book.
I find it amazing that each day in our calendar year there is a significant event and sometimes two or more that are attached to it to celebrate. Naming days for a cause seems out of control. The upside to these special days means we can find something to celebrate every single day of the year not just Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and the other well-known holidays. As Americans we seem to do better when we have a day to celebrate — to look forward to.
We began to anticipate Christmas and holiday cheer long before the day is upon us. We do this by partying, shopping, decorating, playing beautiful music and spending time with our traditions in our churches. We are thankful at Thanksgiving, and our life then explodes with holiday cheer. We have expectations for all of these holidays, and occasionally those expectations set us up for a big let down.
As I was contemplating celebrating cleaning out my refrigerator today and finding joy in the fact my garbage has shrunk because I recycle more, the thought crossed my mind that we should possibly celebrate all these days someone has dedicated to certain events. Maybe we wouldn’t have such high expectations of the big holidays if we took time to observe the little days that happen throughout the year.
For instance, according to “Awe Manac,” in November we also celebrate National Fast Food Day, World Peace Day, Have a Bad Day, Day, and Sinkie Day. I had to look up Sinkie Day, and I found Sinkie Day lands on the same day as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. If you are not a fan of Black Friday you can celebrate Sinkie Day.
Sinkie Day has been celebrated for 25 years. It is the day you stand over your sink and have your meal. After having a wonderful meal around a beautiful decorated table on Thanksgiving, the next day you have a fast meal over your sink. And yes, it really does exist, but I think I would prefer to celebrate Black Friday, although celebrating sinkie might be cheaper because you are eating leftovers.
I like the idea of dedicating a day to having a bad day. If we took one day to wallow in a bad day and complain about it we might get it out of our system and enjoy the rest of the holidays.
Who invented all of these days? I did a small amount of research and found there actually is a registry at nationaldaycalendar.com. A day can be submitted — right now they have a backlog, so they are only accepting submissions from companies and organizations. Also, they do not designate days for birthdays, anniversaries or individuals. They then put out a press release for the day along with a certificate, a media alert, which includes newspapers and talk show hosts, etc. There is a charge.
According to an article in Money Magazine, there is also another gentleman who makes up these fake days, and he is John-Bryan Hopkins, a food writer from Alabama and founder of the website Foodamentary. Not only does he make up fake holidays, but he gets rid of them, too, if he becomes bored with them or they don’t catch on. According to the article, it takes a year or two for a holiday to take off.
I thank Jill Badonsky for making me smile and laugh each day with her Daily Soul Vitamin, Mirth of the Day, Awe-servances and birthday observances. The past few weeks terror has struck my heart a time or two, and when I read Georgia O’Keefe’s quote today it steadied my heart. Take the time the next few weeks to observe a few silly days — or make up your own and register it so others can observe what is important to you too.
I need to get started celebrating National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. I have a fear I might also be celebrating Spoiled Food Day, too. I wonder if there is such a day?