September 8, 2014

Today we celebrate:

National Date-Nut Bread Day – Dates and nuts mixed into a quick bread. Fast, easy and delicious.  Find some good recipes here: http://www.cooks.com/rec/search?q=date+nut+bread

International Literacy Day – This is a day celebrated by schools and libraries for the purpose of highlighting and fighting against the problem of illiteracy.  Read a book today, help a youngster practice their reading skills or, if you have someone really young, start work on teaching them letters and their sounds, it's a great way to start them on the path to becoming a literate adult.

Pardon Day – On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford, amid great controversy, pardoned former President Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office. Ford said he just wanted to end all the uproar created by Watergate but there were many who disagreed with his decision.

Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses Day – These are the nurses who help take care of people of all ages with blood and cancer diseases. They frequently go above and beyond the call of duty to provide any kind of support these patients and their families need. http://www.aphon.org/about/nursesday.cfm

Virgin Mary Day – Celebrated exactly 9 months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, but is, oddly enough, no where near the day the birth of Christ is celebrated which confuses me. Nevertheless, this is the day to have a feast that celebrates not the birth of Christ but the birth of Mary to her parents, Joachim and Anna, who also had an angel appear to them and tell them that they would finally have a baby after years of unsuccessful fertility treatments.

National Boss/Employee Exchange Day – Celebrated on the Monday after Labor Day, this is a day to help you get along with your boss or get along with your employees, if you are the boss. The idea today is to share each other's point of view for a day. I have received no guidance on how to accomplish this seemingly monumental task, but I have faith that you will figure it out.

World Physical Therapy Day – This is a day to raise awareness of the remarkable benefits that physical therapists can bestow upon their patients. Physical therapy helps people heal faster from surgeries or injuries and get back up onto their feet and fulfilling a normal lifestyle far more quickly than they would without it.  I have some experience with this as I utilized the skills of a physical therapist nearly 18 years ago and I am grateful for the help he was able to give me.

To celebrate everything in one day, take some date-nut bread to your boss to thank him/her for participating in the exchange day, then pardon him/her for any crimes they may have committed while he/she was the boss.  Then give a Virgin Mary statue to the hematology/oncology nurses in your local hospital before you go to a physical therapy office near you to read to any children who might be receiving therapy there.