June 14, 2013

Today we celebrate:

National Strawberry Shortcake Day – When strawberries are in season, this is one of my favorite desserts. Nothing beats the sweet, juicy, deliciousness of fresh strawberries. It's been so rainy here this year, however, I don't know what the strawberry crop is going to look like.

Flag Day – On this day every year we celebrate the United States Flag. Let your flag fly with pride today and be proud to be an American. There will be many flag raising ceremonies all over the countries today as well as numerous parades and musical salutes.

Pause For The Pledge Day – This day is celebrated simultaneously with Flag Day and is usually a part of Flag Day ceremonies. Pausing for the Pledge of Allegiance is a way for all citizens to share a patriotic feeling.

Army's Birthday – On this day in 1775, the United States Army was born. It was a bit of an undisciplined, rag tag bunch of farmers with no real chain of command but they got it together enough to defeat the British and their skills have only improved in the 238 years since that beginning. Today we honor the bravery, strength, and professionalism of our soldiers who still put their lives on the line to protect us every day.

Family History Day – This is another made up day created by Thomas & Ruth Roy from wellcat.com. The purpose is to share family stories with each other so that important family memories, accomplishments and memorable stories are not lost.

World Blood Donor Day – In many areas of the world, safe blood is very hard to come by. This is a day to make people aware of that problem and the need for as many regular blood donors as possible. The other purpose of this day is to thank donors for being willing to share their life saving blood with those who are in need. In the normal course of our lives we sometimes forget about how important it is that hospitals have enough blood to enable them to save lives every day. But it doesn't take much to remind us and we will line up at a blood bank for the opportunity to contribute to that effort. And when a real tragedy happens, people will come in droves and endure great hardship in order to donate because this is something that almost everyone can do to help at a time when everyone wants to help more than anything else.

Work @ Home Father's Day – On the Friday before Father's Day, we celebrate fathers who have chosen to work at home. This isn't possible for all father's of course, but for those who can and do, their presence at home improves family interactions and can greatly improve their professional satisfaction.

To celebrate today, have a home flag raising ceremony complete with the Pledge of Allegiance and your children lined up and dressed as Army soldiers. Then host a blood bank/family reunion and have all of your family members who are able donate blood while they share family stories with the younger members of the family. If there are any work at home fathers in your family group, give them some strawberry shortcake, if not, canvas the neighborhood until you find one and give the cake to them.