Strange Days - by Janie DeVos

     I heard on the radio that it was Single Tasking Day, meaning today is the day to focus on doing one thing only.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I multi-task everyday, all day, and at night, too.  Heck, I don’t know one woman who doesn’t.  It’s part of our genetic makeup, I believe, and to do anything other than multi-tasking on any given day would mean that I was sick, or writing a book.  But, even then, I try to get some kind of dinner on the table at some point, and I can usually manage to get the bills done (albeit late sometimes), have a load of laundry going, and feed the Bassets.  See what I mean?  Multi-tasking. 

This odd Single Tasking Day piqued my interest about other strange days that are observed every year.  Who comes up with these things, I ask.  Or, maybe the more important question is, why do they feel the need to?  A while ago, I heard that it was National Potato Chip Day.  Hearing that compelled me to go buy onion dip and then do a search for other strange days when we loosely pay tribute to something that doesn’t really deserve a day, but gets it anyway.  Aside from the nonsensical ones, I wanted to find days that do deserve to be observed or made a point of, like perhaps a National Kindness Day, or a National Forgiveness Day.  What I found amazed me, and, at times, made me shake my head in disbelief that each of these should be given even a moment’s pause, much less a whole day of recognition.  Here are some of my favorites:

January 3^rd – Festival of Sleep Day.  So, what, we sleep through the celebration?

January 7^th – Old Rock Day.  Whoever thought this one up was as dumb as…Surely, you can fill in that blank.

January 16^th – National Nothing Day.  No comment.

February 1^st – Hula in the Coola Day.  Really, folks, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

February 9^th – Toothache Day.  Shouldn’t it be Non-Toothache Day we celebrate?

March 19^th – Corn Dog Day.  Okay, I’m in.

March 20^th – National Aliens Abductions Day.  What on Earth!?

April 30^th – National Honesty Day.  So is it all right to lie the other 364 days of the year?

May 3rd – Lumpy Rug Day.  I’m…well… just speechless.

May 16^th – National Sea Monkey Day.  I thought those were little plastic figures in a Milton Bradley game.

July 3^rd – Compliment Your Mirror Day.  Translation: Compliment Yourself Day.

July 22^nd – Rat-Catcher’s Day.  This date happens to share my friend’s birthday.  I’m sure she’d be simply delighted to know this.

July 27^th – Take Your Plants for a Walk Day.  And then walk yourself to the nearest mental health facility.

Sept. 5^th – Be Late for Something Day.  What’s special about that?  Most of us celebrate this on a daily basis.

Oct. 7^th – International Moment of Frustration Day.  Don’t know about y’all, but my day usually consists of about 20, 000 moments of frustration.

Oct. 23^rd – National Mole Day.  The kind on your skin or the kind in the ground?

Nov. 8^th – Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day.  That ought to keep those pesky neighbors away!

But, finally, after scrolling through all of these other days that we need not mark on our calendars, I saw it!  Hallelujah!  November 13^th - World – yes, WORLD -Kindness Day.  Thank God!  However, I did notice that it took us almost the whole year to get around to it, but at least we finally did! 

All things considered, I’m delighted to report that my faith in mankind has been restored.  I’ll just pretend that Have a Bad Day Day isn’t observed six days later.