Observances & Celebrations

Labor Day and other National Observances

I got to Bronko’s early Friday evening to catch the baseball games and the football game. I was rung out from busting my ass getting my yard squared away and making sure my wood gets stacked for the winter (fuck the oil companies and may all the curses in the book of Deuteronomy be upon every profiteering asshole in them). I sat in my chair, dazed from the day and hurting all over, staring into oblivion as I sat down.

“Hey, are you O.K.?" “G” looked at me like I was getting ready to go ballistic on someone. “Yeah, I’m O.K., just looking forward to getting away from long island” can I get a glass of tonic water “G”? “O.K. just tell me what the hell is going on with you, your not like yourself at all”, “G” then brought me the tonic water and I told her about my Uncle being in the hospital and just feeling like I don’t belong anywhere.

I then told her I wish there was some reason to celebrate before Labor Day, some reason to share a day with a friend. I also told her I haven’t heard from a lady I know for some time and wonder if she is alright. “G” said, “there is always a reason to celebrate and August is full of days to celebrate and observe.” I have no hard time looking at “G” she is 41, 25, 36 and is built like she’s 25, her beautifully accented Etruscan facial features tell of a woman a little older.

The fact I went to school with her and knew her since she was eight, and that she shows off pictures of her newborn grandson tells you a lot more about how old she really is. “G” is still drop dead, jaw dropping gorgeous and the summer clothes she wears keeps men drooling. I almost forgot we were talking about celebrations and observations. “Exactly what are you talking about “G”?”

“Stop staring at my tits and look me in the eye, now there are a lot of observations this month that you can share with people RJ.” O.K., tell me what you know “G”. So off and on between drinks “G” gave me an education about the months of August and September. These are just some of the things she let me know about:

1) Monday the 25th is National Banana Split Day. Its also Kiss and Make Up Day.

2) Tuesday the 26th is Women’s Equality Day a/k/a Susan B. Anthony Day. “G” was quite particular about letting me know how important this holiday is to her.

3) Thursday the 28th is Dream Day (Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech during civil rights rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1963.) I did not know that this was a day of observance on the National Calendar. I was surprised a genius bartender knew this and I didn’t.

4) Saturday, August 30th is National Toasted Marshmallow Day. I told “G” she had to be kidding and making this shit up. “G” said “if you actually start buying yourself a drink instead of sipping tonic water I’ll tell you some observations in September that could be a lot of fun.
So I bought a beer and we continued this conversation between her serving drink while men drooled looking at her seriously sensuous cleavage. I started to think about ways to observe some of these days in a quiet special way. I also thought about some people I would like to share them with.

“G” started up again about September and the back to the grind mentality everyone has after Labor Day. I said yeah, “because there are no National Observances during September, I do know of some cultural observances but really nothing to actually ‘observe’.” “G” said “you really need to get a life and learn to live it…let me tell you what’s going on next month:

5) “The first week in September is National Payroll Week.” “‘G’ what is the purpose of this why spend a whole week celebrating a paycheck that gets spent in hours.” “Listen RJ National Payroll Week celebrates the hard work by America's 156 million wage earners and the payroll professionals who pay them. Together, through the payroll withholding system, they contribute, collect, report and deposit approximately $1.7 trillion, or 64.2%, of the annual revenue of the U.S. Treasury.” Great follow to Labor Day.

6) “The second week of September is both Assisted Living Week and Suicide Prevention Week RJ.” “I can understand Suicide Prevention Week following National Payroll Week, either you lament a lousy wage, job or unemployment to the point of depression or get upset realizing your taxes are financing the shipping of our jobs overseas ‘G’”.

7) “The third week of September is Constitution Week RJ.” “Really ‘G’”. “Yeah, you should know this Mr. History Man, the Congress, by joint resolution of February 29, 1952 (36 U.S.C. 106), designated September 17 as "Citizenship Day," and by joint resolution of August 2, 1956 (36 U.S.C. 108), requested that the President proclaim the week beginning September 17 and ending September 23 of each year as "Constitution Week." (I didn’t know that and I was impressed she did).

8) “The fourth week of September is Deaf Awareness Week, Dog Week, and Banned Books Week RJ. “How is it you know all this ‘G’?” “My kids are in the education business, but I will read the blog during Banned Books week…which, if an employer caught employees reading could get you banned from the office RJ.”

“So did we find a reason for you to look forward to tomorrow RJ?” “Your fine European frame is enough to get me to look forward to tomorrow, now I just have something to consider doing during the coming days and weeks. Thanks for the pep talk ‘G’.” I stuck around to shoot pool to the late night side of morning. I won every game, I just couldn’t miss.

RJ