No Matter How Big

"Hi, mom!"  #1 Son had popped in, as he does now that he lives back in town.

On your way to work? i asked, as he was in his uniform.

"Yeah, I have my job back."

Back? i asked.

"Yeah, I didn't tell you?  There was one lady who worked there, and no one liked her, and I mean no one!  If she decided she didn't want you working there any more, she would tell the big boss that you had missed a shift to get you fired.  And she decided she didn't like me, so she lied and said I was on the early shift Friday, and I checked, and my name wasn't on it.  So when I showed up for the afternoon shift, I was told to go home."

Is that why your father called me in a panic Friday morning, asking for your mobile phone number, which he already has, by the way?

"Yeah, and so when I came in later, I was told to go home.  But I decided to go talk to the big boss on Monday because it's not right, I wasn't on the early shift, so she was lying and saying I missed a shift, and when I went in the big boss told me he was glad I was there, that I'm one of his best workers, and, listen to this!  That lady got fired over the weekend!  They figured out what she was doing, and got rid of her, and rehired several of the people she fired, because they were there, too!"

That's good, i noted.  Not that she was doing that, but that she was stopped, and those people are working again.

"Right.  And I should get paid tomorrow, but, well, I'm out of cat litter.  Do you have any cat litter?"

Here, i said, handing him half a bag.  We don't want SissyCat and Mikey having to cross their legs until payday, do we?

"Thanks, mom!  I gotta go, I don't want to be late, especially since they like my work, I might even get back into management!"

So, that means, over the past few weeks, he's gotten cat litter, cat food, and all the older leftovers in the freezer, as well as some canned goods #2 Son has brought over to his house.

No matter how big they get, they are still little boys, and mom is still a sucker for sending care packages. 


Today is:

Conmemoracion Patriotica en la Ciudad de Colon -- Panama

Day of the First Shout for Independence -- El Salvador

Deepavali -- Hindu; Jain; Sikh (fifth day of the festival)
     Bhai Tika -- ritual where sisters honor brothers for the protection they give
     Gyan Panchami -- Jain (celebration of knowledge and education)

Egyptian Day -- Medieval Europe day of bad fortune (common saying on this day was, "Notwithstanding, I will trust the Lord.")

Festival of Amun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Guy Fawkes' Day -- Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador; New Zealand; UK; a/k/a Gunpowder Day, bonfires celebrate that Guy Fawkes plot did not succeed; related famous celebrations
     Burning of the Tar Barrels -- Ottery St. Mary, Devon, UK (17 barrels soaked in tar are lit outside 17 taverns and carried through the town)
     Lewes Bonfire Night -- Lewes, East Sussex, UK
     Turning the Devil's Stone -- Shebbear, Devon, UK (erratic stone, possibly from an Ice Age deposit, turned every year on this day to assure good forturne)

Melbourne Cup Day -- Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia (152nd running)

National Doughnut Day -- well, it's better than buy a donut day, that one's too obvious

Nones of November -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Popes Day -- US name for the remembrance of Guy Fawkes' Day

St. Elizabeth's Day and St. Zechariah's Day -- parents of John the Baptist (Elizabeth is Patron of pregnant women)

Wet Wellington Day -- Fairy Calendar (Imps and Gremlins; they really love it when this falls on a Wednesday)

Wuwuchim Fire Ceremonies begin -- Hopi Native American (dating approximate, as these ceremonies are now mostly closed to outsiders, a celebration of Masaw, god of death, and Spider Woman, the earth mother; a 16 day festival and manhood ceremony for adolescent boys)


Anniversary Today:

George W. Bush marries Laura Welch, 1977


Birthdays Today:

Judy Reyes, 1967
Tatum O'Neal, 1963
Tilda Swinton, 1960
Bryan Adams, 1959
Peter Noone, 1947
Sam Shepard, 1943
Art Garfunkel, 1941
Elke Sommer, 1940
Ike Turner, 1931
Vivien Leigh, 1913
Roy Rogers, 1911
Joel McCrea, 1905
Strom Thurmond, 1902


Debuting/Premiering Today

The Nat King Cole Show, 1956
The New York Weekly Journal first edition, 1733


Today in History:

Wu MeKuan, a collection of 48 Zen koans, compiled in China, 1228
Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier (Brittany); it is the first Breton dictionary as well as the first French dictionary, 1499
St. Felix's Flood ravages the Dutch coast and destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands, 1530
The Gunpowder Plot, in which Catholics were trying to blow up the English Parliament, is foiled, 1605
The first post office in the Colonies is opened in the home of Richard Fairbanks, 1639
Susan B. Anthony is arrested for trying to vote in Rochester, NY, 1871
The first US patent for a gasoline driven motor car is granted to George B. Selden, 1895
Calbraith Rodgers arrives in Pasadena from Sheepshead Bay, NY, completing the first transcontinental plane flight, in 49 days, 1911
Colombia joins the United Nations, 1945
USS Rentz, USS Reeves and USS Oldendorf visit Qingdao (Tsing Tao) China — the first US Naval visit to China since 1949, 1986
André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada, but is thwarted when the Prime Minister's wife locks the door, 1995
Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial, 2006
China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon, 2007