What’s In a Date?

Today is my sister’s 81st birthday. January 6th was my dad’s birthday, my brother’s is June 29th, my mom’s February 24th. We remember these dates, like my daughter’s is November 8th, my son’s is December 14th, Rocky’s is November 28th. We live with these dates. They are second nature to us. A plethora of dates come to mind, all birthdays.

Of course, there are those dates that we remember culturally – 4th of July, December 25th, January First, and so on. We add key historical remembrances, too. Over time our calendar year shapes itself.

An anniversary – own wedding(s), family wedding dates, too – and of course graduations of key interest – college, graduate school, same for our own children. I think of September 11th each year in horror of that very specific day. And so we build a year-long memory string of key dates.

With 365 days in a year, I guess it is human nature to break down the larger number into a managed few. The mind becomes ordered and more human.

And then there is today’s date, the 10th of something or another, and it stands for the day we face immediately. What is on the calendar. What duties must I complete. Beyond the scheduled, what other happenings are routine and will unfold automatically? When is it that we do something special that makes this date a memory of many tomorrows? Is it a happenstance, an opportunity to use the moment in a big way, unplanned? Ah, most of such comes this way, doesn’t it?

And so, the humdrum becomes anything but. We act on accumulated sparks for action. The day arrives and we do the deeds. Something special is now history – monumental or small and very personal. It all matters somehow. In the great scheme of things, today matters, as did yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow.

Maybe automatically, maybe by chance, each day has its character of being. We will make the most of it as we will. Let’s hope it is very good indeed.

January 12, 2023

 

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