What kids can do.

"Hey, mom, guess what?  I made a high B in my trig class!"  Bigger Girl was rightfully proud of the effort she put out to do that.

Great work! i told her.

"I'll take a math class this summer, and I should be able to graduate with my AS in zoological science in the fall!" she continued.

You are doing a wonderful job, i said, and i meant it.  (This is the child who was once diagnosed as so dyslexic and autistic that i was told she would never learn to read or do math, and the best we could hope for was that she could live in a group home someday and have a menial job.)

"Thanks.  Yesterday I went with Callie and Vera to celebrate the end of the semester, and Vera wanted to buy a corset!  So we went to this place where they had those and lots of other stuff, including one of those poles, you know, for pole dancing.  And they dared me to try it, and I did!  Mom, I've got enough lower body strength that I was able to climb it and lower myself a few inches at a time until I was on the floor!  Can you believe it!  I could pole dance if I wanted to!  Not that I want to, of course."

Thanks, i needed to know that about my daughter, i told her drily, and we both laughed.

"Well, here's something else you might find interesting," #1 Son said as he walked in.

What's that? i asked.

"I can perform marriage ceremonies in certain states!" he said.

How? i asked.

"I sent my $10 in to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and they sent me a certificate, so I'm now ordained in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster!  So in any state where that church is recognized, and there are a few, I can perform a wedding!" he said.

Somehow, i'm not surprised.

Today is

All Wright Housewalk -- Oak Park, IL, US (formerly called Wright Plus, The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust’s annual house walk features rare interior tours of privately owned homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries in the historic community of Oak Park)

Armed Forces Day -- US (honoring those currently serving in the US military)

Biographer's Day -- anniversary of the day Boswell met Johnson in 1763

Celebrate Your Elected Officials Day 2015 -- unless you don't like them, then get to work electing better ones; if you know of a good one, take time today to thank her/him

Dermott's Annual Crawfish Festival -- Dermott, AR, US (mud bugs aren't just for Cajuns any more! carnival, music, street dances, tons of crawfish and more through tomorrow)

Do Dah Day -- Rhodes and Caldwell Parks, Birmingham, Alabama (fun while fundraising for local animal charities)

Hires Root Beer Day -- pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires created it on this day in 1866

Iris Festival -- Greeneville, Tennessee, US (the community's major festival of the year, featuring artists, craftsmen, merchants, food vendors and entertainers from across the country; through tomorrow)

Lewis & Clark Heritage Days -- St. Charles, MO, US (reenacting the 1804 encampment just before their departure, with activities including a parade with drum and fife corps, and even a church service; through tomorrow)

Love a Tree Day -- and read about the love of a tree, in Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

Middlesex Day -- Middlesex, England (although it is only a postal county now, many celebrate the heritage of what was once the county that included London)

Morel Mushroom Festival -- Muscoda, WI, US (the "Morel Mushroom Capital of Wisconsin" celebrates the end of the peak morel season in style, with everything including an antique tractor pull, Fireman's Steak Feed, and even a parade; through tomorrow)

National Coquilles St. Jacques Day

National Learn To Swim Day -- US (with summer just around the corner, remember that drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages one to 14, so please, learn to swim and teach your kids!)

Preakness Stakes-- Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, MD, US (140th annual; the second jewel in horseracing's Triple Crown)

Sea-Monkey® Day -- as declared by someone who likes these little brine shrimp as pets; for info on keeping sea monkeys, check here; for ideas about how to celebrate there is a site about how to worship sea monkeys

Sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in Rounds Day -- but not around me, please, or i might do something drastic

Sneeze Without Embarrassment Day -- because of pollen levels, as declared by Karen Richmond, of Eastport, MI, US

Spaghetti-Os Day -- they were first sold on this day in 1966

St. Brendan the Voyager's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, travelers, whales; Ardfert, Ireland; Clonfert, Ireland; Kerry, Ireland)

St. Honorius of Amiens' Day (Patron of bakers[especially bakers of communion wafers], cake makers, candlemakers, chandlers, confectioners, florists, flour merchants, oil refiners, pastry chefs; against drought)

St. John of Nepomuk's Day (Patron of bridges, bridge builders, confessors, discretion, good and right confession, running water, silence; Bohemia; Czech Republic; Slovakia; against calumnies, floods, indiscretions, and slander)

Sudan People's Liberation Army Day -- South Sudan

Teachers' Day -- Malaysia

U.S.Nickel Day -- the first U.S. five-cent nickel was minted on this day in 1866

Wear Purple for Peace Day -- the idea being that until we become a peaceful species, the aliens won't visit

Wisconsin Dells Automotion -- Noah's Ark Waterpark, Wisconsin Dells, WI, US (showcase of more than 1,000 classic cars, music, food, and family fun; through tomorrow)

Yom Yerushalayim -- Israel (Jerusalem Day; begins at sunset)


Anniversaries Today:

Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, marries Marie Antoinette, 1770
Edgar Allen Poe marries his cousin Virginia Clemm, 1836 


Birthdays Today:

Megan Fox, 1986
Matt Ryan, 1985
Jim Sturgess, 1981
Tori Spelling, 1973
David Boreanaz, 1971
Gabriela Sabatini, 1970
Tracey Gold, 1969
Janet Jackson, 1966
Mare Winningham, 1959
Joan Benoit Samuelson, 1957
Olga Korbut, 1955
Debra Winger, 1955
Pierce Brosnan, 1953
Bob Edwards, 1947
Bill Smitrovich, 1947
Billy Martin, 1928
Liberace, 1919
Woody Herman, 1913
Louis "Studs" Terkel, 1912
Margaret Rey, 1906
Henry Fonda, 1905
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, 1804
William Seward, 1801


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Top Gun(Film), 1986
"McCartney II"(album release), 1980
"Listen to What the Man Said"(Single release), 1975
"Annie Get Your Gun"(Musical), 1946
"Dalibor"(Opera), 1868


Today in History:

The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence is re-established as a republic, 1527
Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England, 1532
Samuel Johnson meets his future biographer, James Boswell, in London, 1763
Denmark abolishes slave trade, 1792
The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail, 1843
Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer, 1866
A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight, 1919
Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc, 1920
Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel, 1948
The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between John F Kennedy International Airport (then Idlewild Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines, 1951
Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, 1960
China's Cultural Revolution begins, 1966
The Soviet Venera 5 spacecraft lands on Venus, 1969
India annexes Sikkim  after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favour of merging with India, 1975
Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1975
The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain, 1986
A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine, 1988
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the US Houses of Congress, 1991
Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote, 2005
The oldest water ever found is discovered in a Canadian mine; the water dates back 2.6 billion years, 2013