21derful

#1 Son turns 21 today.

He is in the midst of many changes, planning to move within the next two weeks -- after his car gets repaired yet again -- to Kansas to be with his fiancee.

He already has a job lined up there, a manager at a restaurant wants him ASAP.

His two cats, Mikey and Dansig, will be staying with us until he has a place rented and pet deposits put in.  Then he will retrieve them at some point during football season, when he wants to come visit and attend at least one game.

It's going to have its good and bad points, this flight of the first baby bird from the nest.  We will miss him, that is plain.  His younger brother will get his room, and the large enclosed garage that is only 1/3 bedroom and the rest storage will get a makeover so all of us can use it more easily.  That will be a good thing.

So it begins.  Stage next.

It will be slow, and yet quick.  Little Girl is still only 14, so we've got several more years of teen angst from the three remaining to more than make up for the moving on of one.

Just as the last 21 has seemed fast, though, the next 7-10 will probably do the same.

Happy Birthday, #1 Son.  We want good things for you, no matter where you go, and we will always save a home game ticket for you when you want it.


Today is

Atomic Bomb Day -- the first experimental bomb was set off today in 1945

Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera / Munoz-Rivera Day -- Puerto Rico

Closet Space Appreciation Day -- if you have some, enjoy (we have tiny closets!)

Crown Prince's Birthday Observed -- Tonga

Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; related observances (many noting her relationship to Carmen, ancient goddess of healing and midwifery)
     Fiesta of the Virgin of Carmen -- Santurtzi, Basque Region, Spain
     Lady of Carmen Day -- Chile
     La Madonna della Carmine -- Naples, Italy (all of Italy, actually, but especially here)
     Virgen Del Carmen -- Cetano, Puerto Rico

Fresh Spinach Day -- yippee!

Global Hug Your Kids Day

Ice Cream Cone Day -- this is one of the many days people say the confection was invented, so why not? just eat your spinach first, okay?

LaPaz Day -- Bolivia

Manu'a Cession Day -- American Samoa

National Corn Fritters Day

National Get Out of the Doghouse Day -- the day to work out any troubles with people you care about, so that you "get out of the doghouse"

National Personal Chef Day -- some websites say Feb. 24, but since i'm not going to have one, you may celebrate it whichever you choose

Petal-Hopping for Non-Starters Day -- Fairy Calendar

Phyang Tse-dup Festival -- Ladakh, India (Buddhist festival, through tomorrow)

President's Day -- Botswana

Sinclair Lewis Days -- Sauk Centre, MN, US (through the 22nd; a grand celebration in Lewis's hometown)

St. Eustathius' Day

Talk to a Telemarketer Day -- only if i can mess with his/her mind in some way!

Umi No Hi -- Japan (Ocean Day / Marine Day)



Birthdays Today

Corey Feldman, 1971
Larry Sanger, 1968
Barry Sanders, 1968
Will Ferrell, 1967
Michael Flatley, 1958
Ginger Rogers, 1911
"Miss Frances" Horwich, 1907
Barbara Stanwyck, 1907
Orville Reddenbacker, 1907
Roald Amundsen, 1872
Ida B. Wells, 1862
Mary Baker Eddy, 1821


Today in History

The Islamic Calendar begins, 622
East-West Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches begin, 1054
The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco, 1661
Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands, 1683
Father Junipero Serra founds California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, 1769
First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, 1782
The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown, 1809
Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada, 1880
The world's first parking meter is installed in the Oklahoma capital, Oklahoma City, 1935
The world's first nuclear weapon, the "atom bomb," is detonated in New Mexico, 1945
The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane, 1948
J.D. Salinger novel The Catcher in the Rye published by Little, Brown and Company, 1951
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last "Big Tent" show in Pittsburgh, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas, 1956
USS George Washington (SSBN-598) a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first Ballistic missile while submerged, 1960
The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens, 1965
Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1969
Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister; he will be in office 22 years, Asia's longest-serving political leader, 1981
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter (impacts continue until July 22), 1994
John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies in a plane mishap over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, along with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, 1999
Chicago's Millenium Park is opened to the public, 2004