It Might Make Someone Else Feel Better

The wonderful Ms. Moon of "Bless Our Hearts" was writing about her grandson being lost when she was watching him.

Well, for anyone who has lost a kid, don't feel too badly, it does happen.

In my case, it happened all of the time, or used to.

It began with #1 Son's propensity to climb out of shopping carts if i didn't zip him into a harness and attach it, leashlike, to said cart, and run off. It continued with Bigger Girl's easy distractibility and propensity to wander away if i took my hand off of her for even a second. It got worse from there.

For anyone feeling awful about losing sight of a kid on occasion, i am here to let you know i have lost children in my own back yard, when Bigger Girl went to sleep under a tarp we had laid out to dry; in our neighborhood, when Bigger Girl and Little Girl decided to run away together; and at Albertson's, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, J. C. Penney's, Dillard's, both local malls, the local zoo, every park within two miles of here, and all four Kingdoms of Walt Disney World.

In each case, the child was returned safe and sound, i still have all four of them.

This is why i am such a stickler for following any small child who looks unattended; i stay far enough away to not be seen as a threat, but close enough to make sure nothing happens. Usually the parent is right there, and all is well. Several times i've stopped a child from running into danger and called for security to find the parent, who is frantically searching for him or her.

Trust me, it's one of the things about their very young years that i do not miss at all, the propensity for running off to explore and end up lost. It does get better, but it's one of the reasons i say i've earned every gray hair on my head from my kids.


Today is:

Constitution Day -- Andorra

Fallas de San Jose -- Valencia, Spain (fiesta leading up to St. Joseph's day, the 19th)

Genius Day -- for Einstein, of course

International Ask A Question Day -- because that's what geniuses do

Learn about Butterflies Day -- if you go looking for who started this holiday, you will find out lots about butterflies and nothing about him/her, which i guess makes it a success

Moth-er Day -- for all individuals and museums that have moth collections

Mother Tongue Day -- Estonia

National Decoration Day -- Liberia

National Heroes Day -- Saint Vincent and Grenadines

National Potato Chip Day

National Pi Day - Why today? Because today is 3.14, the value of Pi.

Nehane -- Kyoto, Japan (yearly showing of the picture of Buddha at rest before his death)

No Smoking Day -- UK (urging people in the UK to take the leap and quit today)

Registered Dietitian Day

Runic Half Month Beorc (Birch) begins

St. Matilda, Queen of Germany's Day

Summer Day -- Albania

Ten Most Wanted Day -- the FBI started its list this day in 1950

Vaturius Mamurius -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival to honor armor makers)

White Day -- China; Japan; South Korea; Taiwan (One month after Valentine's Day, which is the day women give gifts to men; today, the men return the favor.)


Birthdays Today:

Justin Bieber, 1994
Colby O'Donis, 1989
Taylor Hanson, 1983
Kirby Puckett, 1961
Pam Ayres, 1947
Billy Crystal, 1947
Michael Caine, 1933
Quincy Jones, 1933
Frank Borman, 1928
S. Truet Cathy, 1921
Hank Ketcham, 1920
Les Brown, 1912
Albert Einstein, 1879
Johann Strauss, Sr., 1804


Today in History:

The Queen of Cyprus, Catherine Cornaro, sells her kingdom to Venice, 1489
England grants a patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island), 1644
Scotland dismisses Willem III & Mary Stuart as king & queen, 1689
Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin, 1794
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church founded in New York, 1821
Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado premiers in London, 1885
During the Great Blizzard of 1888, New York receives its second largest snowfall on record, 21", 1888
The United States goes on the gold standard, 1900
Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's laws of genetics, 1900
The first theater for rear movie projection is built, in NYC, 1931
A jury in Dallas, Texas, finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy, 1964
Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released, 1994
Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle, 1995