Holiday Week

I feel a little bad for March 16th this year, sandwiched as it is between the Ides of March and Daylight Savings Time and Pi Day on one side, and St. Patrick's Day on the other. It's a bit of a dry spot in a well of made-up holidays. If I were March 16th, I'd feel a little left out. So I thought I'd do a little internet research to find something to celebrate. In this day and age, every day is a special day, and often for multiple reasons. As it turns out...

• March 16 is National Curlew Day, the traditional date of the arrival of the long-billed curlew to Umatilla Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, which is a bit too region-specific to be celebrating in, say, Michigan.

• March 16 is Freedom of Information Day, which the American Library Association holds "on or near" the March 16 birth date of James Madison, and which recognizes those who have championed and promoted access to government information and the public's right to know. That's a noble cause, to be sure, but kind of academic. It seems more appropriate to observe the holiday with long talks and polite applause for awards to noteworthy individuals, than with elaborate desserts or themed parties or costumes.

• March 16 is Lips Appreciation Day. Good news for established couples or people who like flavored lip balm. That subset of the population does not currently include me, but I'm willing to concede that Lips Appreciation Day might give some people legitimate reason to engage in appropriate holiday festivities.

• March 16 is St. Urho's Day. St. Urho is the Finnish patron saint of the grasshopper. From what I can tell, this is just a made-up holiday that gives Finnish Americans reason to start drinking before the Irish Americans and college students start drinking on their made-up holiday.

None of those quite work for me, so I'm going to enjoy March 16 in my own way. I'm thinking of Stand Outside and Soak Up the Sun for Five Full Minutes Day, or Apply for Another Job Day, or Remember to Watch Lost in HD Day, or Let My Students Out of Class a Little Early So They Can Enjoy the Extended Daylight Day. Maybe I'll even open that package of grasshopper cookies I got from my grandma awhile back in honor of St. Urho.

Happy March 16th! If this blog post inspires at least a few of you to find your own way to give this lonely non-holiday a boost in the midst of this holiday season, I will have done my good deed for the day.