SUNNY DAY FOR CELEBRATIONS EVERYDAY

A sunny day is the best sort of day for cheering.

You can go outside and walk around with the joy of the day, no matter what is celebrated.

And you don’t have to dress like you’re going on an undersea adventure.

Just open the door and step out.

But what is there to celebrate? Don’t be a downer.

You, dear reader, can call this day to celebrate whatever you’d like to celebrate.

Any day you choose to celebrate passes the test if you choose to celebrate.

The one important aspect of choosing a day?

No one may celebrate with you.

If that’s a problem, you may want to reconsider your choice.

But you discover that no one wants to celebrate any day you choose for anything you like?

Why is that?

Because most people need to be taken by the hand and led.

If you didn’t know that, now you do.

“But Big Dave I’m an independent thinker with insights and epiphanies. I know the right day to celebrate the right thing.”

And this is why you celebrate alone and feel bitter that no one takes you at face value?

Let’s Celebrate You For Starters

If you’re a writer, and why wouldn’t you be, and a blogger, which you should be, you know all about lonely celebrations.

You celebrated your first publication, your first blog post, your first comment. You celebrate your engagement, twitter followers, and likes.

But it’s not enough, it’s never enough.

Unless you know the secret of keeping your sanity online.

Not long ago a columnist with half a million followers called for a protest.

He expected a hoard of people; only one showed up.

A blogger with a solid reputation got thousands of hits on a piece they posted; the next day they got three.

Do I have any proof of these numbers? No, because I’m celebrating No Context Day.

I’m also celebrating Don’t Shoot Me Day for gun control laws that work better than NRA propaganda.

They are not good guys with guns, but they have guns.

This is also Wife Day around here, but that’s every day.

If you’re married, join in.

How To Celebrate Wife Day

It starts with a wife.

This isn’t Almost Married Day, or We’re As Good As Married Day.

It’s not Seventh Wife Day like my old granddad, either.

Wife Day could also be called Are You Listening Day, Did You Do What I Asked Day, or My Mother Called You A Dork Day.

We’ll stick with Wife Day.

You may have questions, or questions you ought to ask your wife.

“I remember the day we met. Do you?”

“Do you remember the moment you decided you wanted to marry me?”

“Over-Under on how much your step-dad offered me to call off the wedding?”

Answers To Wife Questions

We met on a warm spring sunny day in Northwest Portland.

I was talking to a new guy in the neighborhood, giving him the lay of the land, telling him this was the best neighborhood for the most outstanding women in Portland.

You parked your car half a block away and walked toward us.

I told the new guy you were the best example of outstanding Portland women and I’d never seen you before.

The new guy nodded.

Then you came up and kissed him before he introduced me to his girlfriend.

The two of you were moving into the doctor’s office next to my apartment building.

He moved on; you didn’t.

Sunny Day Strong

I came home from work one day thinking about starting over someplace else.

I stopped by your place.

By then you’d dumped your dude, moved from NE Portland to SE, then Sauvies Island, then to the backside of the West Hills before moving two blocks away from me.

I walked up through the courtyard of your apartment building to find you standing in the doorway.

Suddenly the notion of starting over changed. If I was starting over I was taking you with me.

I proposed, you said yes. After thirty seven years I remember it like it just happened.

I take that as a good sign. It’s been one sunny day after another ever since.

Sunny Day Rain

Your step-dad offered me $300 to shut our wedding down.

It was a bargain.

“$300.”

“That’s how much it would take to rent a canopy over the wedding area. At least you won’t get your hair wet when you give the bride away.”

We ended up getting married under a big canopy in the driving rain in May of 1986.

I wore the same outfit Prince Charles wore when he married Diana.

My marriage worked out better than his because the Prince had an extra woman waiting in the wings.

Does he count?

Not in this blog post.

Remember when you celebrate that you’re not any better than those who don’t make celebrations a priority.

Just because they might be dour, depressed, and hang-dog about life in general, it’s not your job to bring them up.

If you go at it with a vengeance, making every celebration bigger and better than the last, you might make them feel worse.

Or just maybe they’ll turn the page and join in?

Results may vary.