May 23, 2014

Today we celebrate superstition, chewiness, cuteness in a shell, fake hair, disease, skin and heat.  When you put it like that, they don't really seem like things that should be celebrated, do they?

Let's put it like this instead:

Lucky Penny Day – Pennies are made from copper, or at least they used to be, these days they are mostly zinc with a little bit of copper. Anyway, copper represented the Greek God Venus and the Greeks believed it could protect against evil and attract love. Therefore, finding a penny meant you were protected from evil and might find love soon. That is what makes them lucky. Keep your eyes peeled for pennies today, maybe they still have enough copper in them so that their power still works.

National Taffy Day – Taffy is soft, and chewy and can be many different flavors. See if you can find some today, it would make a great dessert.

Don't Fry Day – Celebrated on the Friday before Memorial Day, this is a day to think about saving your skin from the sun. Having fair skin, I have to be extra cautious about this and have turned into a sunscreen nazi, I have to admit. I time how long the kids have been in the pool and pull them out to dry off and reapply the sunscreen far more often than they like. But there are other things you should do besides applying sunscreen. See this website for more skin saving tips. http://skincancerprevention.org/programs/dont-fry-day

National Wig Out Day – Celebrated on the Friday before Memorial Day, this is a day to have fun. Put on a wig and try out a new hairstyle without risking your actual hair, or put on a wig and an alter ego and pretend to be someone else today.

Heat Awareness Day – While we all have at least a few days in the summer when we find the heat unbearable, sometimes we forget that heat kills hundreds of people every year. It's hard to believe it, but heat kills more people than tornadoes, floods, lightning, and hurricanes combined. There are things you can do to keep yourself safe when the temperature runs too high, make sure you know what those things are and do them. Also try to keep an eye on your elderly relatives or neighbors this summer. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/heat/

World Crohn's and Colitis Day - Not to be confused with the World IBD Day back on the 19th, this day was created by Josh Golder in 2007 and is recognized by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Josh has Crohn's disease and is a prominent figure in the Crohn's community. This day is about bringing together people who have been affected by either disease as well as their friends and family to spread awareness of these diseases.

World Turtle Day – This day is sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue and has been around since 2000. The idea for today is to encourage people to take action to help turtles and tortoises survive.  They emerge from their eggs into a very dangerous world where everyone is waiting around for a chance to eat them.  You name a critter that is not an herbivore and that’s a critter that would love to have these tiny little babies for an appetizer.  So there are groups of people who take it upon themselves to help these turtles and tortoises to at least make it to the water alive.

To celebrate today, put on some sunscreen, munch on taffy, and watch for lucky pennies while venture out in your new wig hair style to find some turtles to save.  Make sure you check with your elderly friends, family and neighbors to make sure they have working air conditioners to stave off the heat of the summer that is coming and tell them about Crohn’s and Colitis to make sure they get checked for these diseases.