Tag Holidays

Happy no labor today

Michael 12 Comments

Happy Labor Day. In the past I’d have followed that with some wonderful tale of all those who labor to keep our cities, in fact our entire country going without needing parades or even particularly expecting recognition. First responders yes, military yes, but also hospital workers, flight attendants, television and radio presenters, even gas station, convenience store, and fast-food restaurant employees. All the people who are there for you when you drive home from the parades, or the semi-annual paint and appliance sales at the mega-marts (the other half of the semi-annual sales held on Memorial Day, naturally).

But not this year. This year I’m going to celebrate the PowerBall. It’s up to $1.1 billion and will continue to grow until the drawing at 11:00 EDT tonight. Just think of all the laboring you could get out of if you have that single winning ticket. You could fund yourself the company of poor South African draft dodger immigrants who stole the idea for electronic fund transfer and electric cars on your way to financing the biggest oaf to ever pave over a rose garden. You might be one proposal away from treating yourself to the most lavish wedding since those of Henry VIII while reducing the wages of those passing the hors d’oeuvres on solid platinum trays to your guests, mere millionaires who grovel at your feet.

Yes, with the fortuitous bounces of six ping pong balls, you could be on TV expounding how we’re all going to die someday but not you because you can now afford healthcare. You don’t have to care about gun laws because you can surround yourself with armed lackies to protect you and your ears from violence. You don’t have to worry about living alone and wondering where your next meal will come from because people will line up to be part of your inner circle where they all tell you how fortunate the world is that you are you, and of course they’ll happily pick up a quarter pounder for you for the promise that you will gladly pay them back on Tuesday for a hamburger today.

Yes, I could celebrate Labor Day, but I’d much rather hope I too can become America’s newest billionaire and take pride in the new deduction awarded me on the purchase of my own airplane and look down upon the worker bees, aka the former backbone of this country.

I could also stop and ask why are we celebrating anything when we’ve just experienced 44th school shooting (and 502nd mass shooting) of 2025? But then I remembered the main mass media has already moved on from that and and our esteemed former drug addict now secretary of HHS has assured us if we can reduce the use of antidepressants in this country the school shootings will go down too.

So instead, I’m buying up all the Powerball tickets I can afford and hit that $1.1 billion jackpot. Maybe then I’ll be good enough for the orange menace and his band of thieves to take advice from when I tell them they really need to go hell. And soon.

Happy Half Year!

Michael 4 Comments

Ahh July! One of the two months tossed in by the Caesars Julius and Augustus rendering the clues to the position in the calendar by their names of September through December moot.

The month that added pages to calendars and is the reason February holds the short end of the day stick started in the hubris of a petty little tyrant. (Warning, Donober may be just around the corner.)

Still there are some good things that came out of July. Not only does July contain within its weeks National Hot Dog Day (on the undoubtedly soon to be more available July 4) it is in its entirety National Watermelon Month and National Ice Cream Month, perhaps not at the same time. Fun fact(?) or perhaps Sad fact, the Fourth of July was not declared a federal holiday until 1938.

Not only was it in July (the one in 1687 specifically) that Isaac Newton published Principia, that contains within its pages his laws of gravity and motion, it was also in July (the one in 2001) that the wildly popular sit-com “The Office” premiered (the British production). And it was on July 13, 1923 that some future real estate tycoon erected the famous HOLLYWOODLAND letters in Griffith Park on Mount Lee above Beachwood Canyon that you might be more familiar with as the Hollywood sign after the last four letters were taken down in 1949.

For the fans of vaccines, and other reasonably intelligent people, it was in July that the rabies vaccine was first given to a patient. Microbiologist Louis Pasteur administered the vaccine to a nine-year-old boy bitten by a rabid dog on July 6, 1885.

For those who think weird like me, July is the first month of the second half of the year. In yesterday’s Uplift we suggested July is a good time to reaffirm your New Years Resolution. Ours is to find something everyday that makes you start the day smiling inside and work on that until the smile defines you. Read more about it at Half Year Resolutions. It’s good. Trust me.

Do as you say

Michael 4 Comments

Today we celebrate Juneteenth in America, federal holiday celebrated to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. You would correct in thinking that would be a significant milestone to be commemorated throughout our existence, the country being established on the principal that “all men are created equal.”

That’s how this week’s Uplift started. It seems right and wrong all at the same time. Right because even though it came 90 years after those words were written but Jefferson and friends, the US government finally applied them to all people. Wrong because it took another 156 years before the government recognized the application of “all men” to all. Even worse is now, another 4 years down the road and the government is retreated on those words. Now that the people seem to have accepted all people as worthy of the equality afforded to “all men” (well, most of the people seem to have accepted it), the bigot-in-chief and his henchmen people are doing all they can to claw back those words and reapply them only to those pledging fealty.

its not a very happy thought so let me hold on to that and allow you to remember the celebration today truly is. Never again should we allow any people, individually or collectively, to be held subservient to others. We don’t have to like everyone we run across over the course of a lifetime. But we should love them. Love the, as we love ourselves.

You can make a difference. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to care.

Memorial Day 2025

Michael 10 Comments

Today should be a day of celebration. It will be a day of picnics and parades where it is not raining, and one of gripes and grievances where it is. There will be sales on paints and home fixer uppers as well as watermelons and water guns as we welcome ‘the unofficial start of summer.” As close to noon as possible, at the end of a parade or in front of a town war memorial, someone will play taps, and as close to as soon as possible, the revelry can begin, and the memory portion of Memorial Day will conclude.

There are three holidays that celebrate members of the United States military. Armed Forces Day (the third Saturday of May) honors those wearing the uniform, Veterans Day (every year on November 11) honors those who have hung up their uniform, and Memorial Day remembers those who never made it out of their uniform. Over 1.1 million Americans perished in wars since the American Revolution. Many of those we celebrate on Armed Forces Day and Veterans Day believe those 1.1 million are the only members of the armed forces truly worthy of celebration. The rest are “merely doing our job.”

For the most part, those we remember today chose to be Americans, either themselves or by birth. Few of them outside those who served other than those who served in the 18th Century can trace their ancestry back to those earliest Americans. Very few of them can trace their roots to the natives of this land. What is probably an understatement is that the U. S. military is made of members who hail (or hailed) from over 20 countries, bringing their language, customs, celebrations, and memories onto the fields of battle and training along with their boots and gear and weapons. When I was serving, there were in my company those who were born in America soldiers, birthright soldiers, immigrant soldiers, and one Native American soldier. The common denominator was soldier. To the best of my knowledge, all are either still in their uniforms or have taken them off by choice. None of us will be celebrated this weekend and that’s okay.

What isn’t okay is if the 1.1 million who never had the chance to decide if they wanted a life out of their uniforms to be forgotten, or worse, to be remembered in passing, or only as a means to sponsor a sale or take advantage of a photo opportunity.

The history of this nation and the future fate of this nation is rooted in those 1.1 million individuals. Enjoy the parades, the first day at the pool, the 2 for 1 watermelon. Before you do any of that, thank God for sending people with the courage to have defended your privilege to do those things, and pray we won’t soon need more of them.

What day is it?

Michael 7 Comments

Do you know what day it is? It’s “Pay a Compliment Day,” and may I say you are all looking lovely today! I’ve talked about holidays and special days in this space before. It is easy enough to do. There are so many of them! The National Day Calendar lists over 1500 holidays and days of special remembrance or honor in the annual online calendar. With almost 3 times the number of observances as there are days in the year, not only is some day some thing, most days are many things!

Naturally we couldn’t let that go, so over at ROAMcare, Diem and I proclaimed today to be “I Am Special Day.” If you read that on the Uplift blog yesterday, you can still celebrate it today. That’s because today is “I Am Special Day” too. So will be tomorrow. And the day after that, and after that, and after that. Every day is “I Am Special Day” because we believe no day is just an everyday day.

We even introduced some traditions to get the ball rolling. One of them is to smile at other people and make them feel like they too are special on “I Am Special Day.” You could say we’re encouraging people to Make America Kind Again. (I just thought of that! Today is going to be special.)  Check out Celebrate You for all the details.

While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

 

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Happy Nearly New Year

Michael 4 Comments

It’s the last Monday of the year and it would be oh so easy to do a “year in review” type of post.  I wonder if that’s what this week’s daily prompts will be. The same prompt every day just worded a little different. Sort of like politics. Our politics this year were worded a little different. Mostly worded as lies. Turns out more people like lies more than truth, no matter how positive the truth might be. So yeah, but no, a year in review is off the list for today.

If not looking back, how about looking forward. I could make predictions of what 2025 will be like. But if you want to know how next year will be, you just have to visit your local shot and a beer bar and you’ll find more people than you can shake a stick at who will tell you just what’s going to happen next year. And they’ll be right because they all knew exactly how this year was going to be. I can hear them now. “Yep, I told you so” they will start. No, predictions aren’t for me.

How about I do a “best of” los of my posts from 2024? That’s perfect. Non-controversial. Non-political, non-critical of anything. Yep, we can do a best of from 2024, and um, that would be all of them. How can you pick the best? It’s like picking the best child or the best bacon. They’ll all yummy. Just like bacon.

I’m running out of ideas and if I don’t come up with something we’ll run out of Monday before I get anything typed onto the screen. What to do, what to do, what to do?

Aha! Why didn’t I think of this before? Resolutions! I’ll make my resolutions for 2025 and post them here and then you can check back with me later this year and together we’ll see how I did. And if you check back with me in March, I’ll tell you what they are. Didn’t you ever read that I don’t make resolutions in January. If New Year’s Day came later in the year, perhaps when the days are getting warmer and flowers are starting to bloom, then we can come up with some good resolutions.  Come see me when I’m not standing knee deep in used gift boxes trying to remember if they are recyclable, and when not I’m cleaning out the refrigerator of all the traditional holiday foods that everybody wanted but nobody ate.

Nope, the ideal time for New Year’s is late March, just about when spring is springing.  It’s far enough away from Valentine’s Day and Easter that we can use a holiday then. The long depressing nights are over so our resolutions can be positive and begin with “we resolve that we will do this” like the start of a real goal rather than “we will never again do that” like the opening for a bad excuse. So, resolutions are out too.

So just what should I write about? How about, I hope you all had a happy whatever holiday you celebrate. Whatever one that was I am certain it had traditions that leaned toward love and fellowship, peace and joy, happiness and more love. How about I write that I wish you the spirit of the holidays all year long until we can do this again next year.  I’ll bring the champagne.

And if you absolutely must have a New Years Resolution, try this on for size ⬇️

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Did you know there are 14 religious holidays in December and January? Do you even know 14 religions? I didn’t know any of that until curiosity got the better of me. Something they all have in common is that they when we remember something special shared with special people at a special time. Explore winter’s special times with us in our updated Winter Carol, last week’s Uplift post that we found, well,most uplifting.

A peek into the new year

Michael 2 Comments

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. And a season it is indeed! Did you know between December and January, 19 religious and secular holidays are celebrated? Truly the middle of winter – or summer depending on which side of the equator you find yourself – is a magical time.

The next big holiday as far as the stores and restaurants are concerned pops up next week when we break out our new date books, calendars, and planners, and celebrate the beginning of 2025. Who had a quarter of a century in the “at least how long we make it through the 2000’s” pool?

The new year will bring a new focus to ROAMcare. Our theme for our 2026 activities is “Live, Love, Share,” and next Wednesday’s Uplift will introduce members and readers to exciting new opportunities to grow and share the ROAMcare community as we re-open the user forums.

The new year will bring other new changes to ROAMcare and I thought I’d share them, just in case you visit us next Wednesday and don’t recognize the place. It won’t be big, but the website will get a minor facelift, and we hopefully will have the bugs worked out of the blog comments routine, not to mention the automated emails that seem to have multiplied for no reason.

We’re also reviewing our presence on social media. Starting January 1, you will also find us on Blue Sky and shortly after that, Tic Tok. We’re also differentiating our social feeds and we are looking to revive our YouTube channel with at least YouTube Shorts. I would love to see us bring back the ROAMcare on Air podcast but until one or both of us can be successfully cloned that may have to wait until 2026.

There is still 2024 to close out and Uplift subscribers can expect a FLASHBACK FRIDAY offering tomorrow and a new Moment of Motivation on Monday. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should pop over and read yesterday’s Christmas post. Nope, Christmas Post is a misnomer. Remember those 19 winter holidays? We think it speaks to all of them.

Happy Holidays! God bless us, every one.

Give yourself a present by subscribing to Uplift today. Join the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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The almost annual Christmas movie review

Michael 2 Comments

Welcome to the almost annual Christmas movie review! This year, the non-Christmas Christmas movies.

Did you know that some group out there surveyed the entire country about their favorite non-Christmas movies that are set during Christmas time. I know it was the whole country because the nice people on the TV news desperately searching for filler material found this report and it included a map of the U.S. noting each state’s favorite. I assume they mean the movie most commonly cited by the survey participants in those states, but “they” said the state’s favorite so let’s go with that.

Surprisingly, none of the favorites included “The Poseidon Adventure” which I think is a dandy Christmas-set non-Christmas movie even though it’s really set on New Year’s Eve. That counts as the Christmas “season,” right? The most often mentioned movie was or is depending on how current this information is (filler, remember), is “Mean Girls.” Only one state named “Die Hard” as their favorite which is where it belongs. Err, in the Christmas-set non-Christmas movie category, not just in one state. Although as a Christmas-set non-Christmas movie it’s really not that good. So there’s a tree it in. Big freaking deal. If the line had been written as “Yippie ki yay fella” it would have disappeared 3 months after its release. Anyway, the second most cited movie was/is lGremlins.” I suppose that’s reasonable.

But that was them. This is me. And naturally, I have my own ideas, just as I did in the most recent almost annual Christmas movie review when we discussed (haha, when I told you), the best Christmas movie ever (i.e. my favorite that year), I will lead you gently to the most Christmassy Christmas-set non-Christmas movie.

It’s quite amazing how many such movies there are. For some reason, the first that comes to mind is “When Harry met Sally,” although, like Poseidon, that leans more to New Year’s. And then that makes me thinks of “Ocean’s Eleven,” the good one (aka the original) which also is set mostly on New Year’s Eve. But with all the planning that went on, you know there was a Christmas tree and presents exchanged upstairs in Mr. Acebos’ living room.

A good choice that is, but there are other Christmas-set non-Christmas movies from the golden years of cinema. Let’s look at some of them.

For those who can’t imagine Edward G. Robinson in a Santa Suit there’s “Larceny, Inc.” from 1942. If you watch it, you will still have to imagine him thusly costumed because he wears a regular suit in it all the way through, but the action does take place during the Christmas shopping season.

Another possibility is 1946’s “Lady in the Lake.” I wrote about it a few years ago and mentioned that even though the opening credits of the movie were presented in a series of Christmas cards, Christmas carols provided the background music, trees and wreaths are prominently displayed, and one scene even opened with a recitation of Dickens “A Christmas Carol” playing on the radio, the Philip Marlowe mystery definitely is not a Christmas movie, merely another Christmas-set non-Christmas movie.

But my favorite Christmas-set non-Christmas movie from those olden, golden years is “The Thin Man,” the Hackett and Goodrich adaption of Dashiell Hammett’s mostly fun murder mystery featuring Nick and Nora Charles. The story begins some unspecified time before the end of the year that I contend was around Thanksgiving, and concludes with them on a train heading home where they disembark on New Year’s Eve, encompassing the entirety of the Christmas season. How much non-Christmassy can you get.

That’s all folks!

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The holidays bring a sense of generosity and togetherness. We can maintain this spirit throughout the year.  Small acts of kindness create a caring and enthusiastic world.
If you think that’s profound, you should read the rest of Do Unto Others. You know, life is life lived alone

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.

Shhh…a real sneak peek

Michael 3 Comments

Here’s a treat for those who just can’t wait, like the people who open presents on Christmas Eve. Every Friday on the ROAMcare site we email a reintroduction to a previously published Uplift blog post or Moment of Motivation to our subscribers. I’m going to share with you today what we are re-releasing tomorrow.  Shhh. Okay, here it is: 

Tomorrow is December 7, a date most Americans associate with Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, and America’s entry into World War II. We noted last year in this blog that December 7 is also National Letter Writing Day, an event in the United States that dates to an earlier war, the American Civil War. Letter Writing Day is an unusual fun holiday in that it isn’t sponsored by a commercial interest …

Want to know what havens next? Okay, I’ll out a link in for you just this once. But don’t risk missing out in the future. consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

Now here’s the link to this week’s. I should make you wait a day but I’m just too nice for that. Click to read the rest of Every Letter is a Love Letter.

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Watchful Waiting

Michael 7 Comments

Throughout the western Christian world, Advent begins this week. A season often lost among the secular preps for the Christmas holidays. Advent is a time of watchful waiting with its own traditions and music, not unlike all the religions that I can think of that incorporate some sort of waiting for or ramping up to the “big” holiday. And like Advent, most often those periods are met with somewhat tepid responses.

Like most Americans, we’re probably waiting for Santa. And let’s face it, we’re not exactly great at waiting. Christmas decorations already are up everywhere, including office lobbies, restaurants, and airports. And I bet most of you reading this have your houses decked out too. Granted, there are only 25 days until Christmas, but I’d say over half of those decorations were put up more than a week ago.

We really don’t like to wait. I was out for Thanksgiving dinner. After the meal, our hostess asked if anyone wanting coffee. “I’ll warn you,” she said, “it’s from a Keurig so you’re going to have to wait for it.” Last time I checked, my Keurig spits out a cup of coffee in abut 30 seconds. Quelle horreur!

We complain about waiting in line and we complain about waiting on hold (but companies who insist on using robo-answerers instead of human operators deserve all the complaints you can throw at them). We look for the fastest route to wherever were driving and the shortest lines at the local mega-mart.

We can use a period like Advent to slow down and appreciate all the season has to offer. Imagine the calm you might experience if for each day in December you spend a quiet moment in meditation, solitude, prayer, or just staring out the window and enjoy a moment not spent in cleaning, decorating, baking, writing and mailing cards and packages, and complaining about where all the time goes. Doesn’t matter where, it just goes.

I think I’d take some of those moments for yourself before someone else gets to them.

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Time again for a shameless plug for the latest Uplift blog post. Even though Thanksgiving is over, it’s still a good read about how it’s a good time to celebrate our love and dysfunction. Yep, they really do go together. Despite life’s imperfections, it’s still a celebration worth being thankful for.

But before you go look, have you still not thought about joining the ROAMcare community and have the weekly Uplift blog delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website? In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly a Monday Moment of Motivation, and our email exclusive Friday Flashback repost of one of our most loved publications. All free and available now at  ROAMcare.org.