World Dracula Day - On this day in 1897, Bram Stoker’s famous novel, Dracula, was published. Aficionados of the genre are already in the midst of the World Dracula Day Symposium at the North Central Texas College. They are listening to Dacre Stoker, Bram Stoker’s grand-nephew, and many other vampire-fiction authors.
Corpus Christi - Sorry folks, this was a mistake on my part. This day is celebrated on June 15th this year so I'll be moving this post that that day. This is not about the city in Texas, although I have been there and enjoyed it thoroughly and feel they deserve to have a day. But alas, this is not it. No, this is a day that is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday in Christian churches and is actually called The Feast of Corpus Christi which is Latin for “Body of Christ”. The super simplification of the day is that it celebrates the belief in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. If you talk to a clergyperson, you will get a much better explanation that I can provide to you.
National Cherry Dessert Day - Truthfully, I’m not a huge fan of cherries, but I recognize that I am in the minority here. And I do understand that cherries are really very good for you. They are full of vitamins and minerals and even have some fiber to top it all off. This is a win/win situation. So, maybe I’ll make a cherry pie for my family who will think they have died and gone to heaven, but I’ll still choose to eat something different for myself.
National Grey Day - OK, this is another fairly odd day. Apparently grey is an underappreciated color. I wasn’t aware of that. Mostly because I wear a lot of black and grey because it is easy to match those colors with others. But many people avoid grey because it is too plain. So today you need to purposefully choose grey whenever you have an option. Grey clothes, grey crayons, pencils write in grey, and if you dim the lights at night you will see more grey.
National Paper Airplane Day - Paper airplanes are a simple and fun way of making your own toy. The purpose is to try to get people of any age to stop using their high tech gadgets that are killing us and isolating us from life, and get together with friends and family, get out some plane old paper, make some paper airplanes and take them outside to fly them around. Experiment with how folding them differently affects how they fly, there are lots of different designs you can try.
Sally Ride Day – On this day in 1951, Sally Ride was born. Sally, of course, became an astronaut when women just didn't do that, and in 1983, at 32 years old, became the first American woman to enter space and orbit the earth. She had another space flight in 1984 and between the two flights, spent more than 343 hours in space. She was the only person to serve on the investigation board for both the Challenger and the Columbia disasters and she formed her own company, Sally Ride Science that creates entertaining science programs for students, with an emphasis on girls. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2012.
National Blueberry Cheesecake Day – Any kind of cheesecake is delicious but if you're a fan of blueberries, which I am, then delicious becomes heavenly.
World Lindy Hop Day - This is a special African American dance that originated in Harlem, New York in the 1920’s and 30’s. It requires jazz music from the big band era. The goal today is to spread this dance all over the world because apparently not everyone knows about it. However, if I use it’s other names, I bet I’ll have a few more people who recognize it. It is also known as Swing Dancing or the Jitterbug. See? There you go.
World Redhead Day - This is a day that was created by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway. She feels that redheads are negatively stereotyped as having hot tempers. The combination of red hair and the freckles that commonly go with it are viewed as imperfections. My own son, who is a redhead, hates his hair. I don’t get it because I love red hair and when I was young I would have given anything to have it instead of my boring brown hair. But the fact is that many redheads are discriminated against and even bullied because of their hair color. It is pretty rare to have natural red hair, and even if you do, it doesn’t always stay red into adulthood. My son is a teenager and his hair is already darkening and will eventually turn brown. I look at his baby pictures and compare that bright and vivid red to what he has now and I feel a little sad, but he can’t wait to feel normal. So if you have red hair, whether it is natural or colored, revel in sporting that beautiful color on your head, you are beautiful and you hope you feel that way.
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.
National Wig Out Day – Also 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 actually 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. The website I have referenced will help with that. Also try to keep an eye on your elderly relatives or neighbors this summer. This day is celebrated on the fourth Friday in May.
National Death Busters Day - Celebrated on the Friday before Memorial Day, this is apparently one of the most dangerous days to be on the road in a motor vehicle. So please be careful in your travels people, I don’t have very many readers of this blog and I would hate to lose a single one of you. I’m just kidding about that, but I am serious about asking you to be careful. Let’s make a goal of having everyone on the roads follow all the rules and have zero accidents in America today.
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