Really Thankful for rEcess, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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It’s another Thankful for rEcess Day!

(For those who might not know, rEcess is a program where volunteers take care of special needs children and their siblings so the parents can have a date night free from worry.)

One of the Ladies’ Circle groups offered to bring lasagna, and i did not turn it down.  We’re thankful for what they provide, and thankful to eat lasagna two times in a row.

We’re thankful that when one of the ladies forgot to bring her portion of the meal, pizza delivery filled the bill.

We’re thankful for the biggest rEcess we’ve had since we started up again this past September.

Becca kept me in order the whole night, supervising me and making sure i did my job correctly.  (That’s a big thankful, some rEcess programs end when a child turns 12, we just put a volunteer shirt on ‘em and let them keep coming as our “assistants.”)

In no particular order, we’re thankful for gym time, crayons, leaving wheelchairs behind, running and romping, snacks, no hitches with giving meds or feeding tubes, and having a good ol’ time.

hallway races

leave that chair behind

get set for art time

hoverboards were involved

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Special PSA -- Daylight Saving Time begins in many places 2am tomorrow, so "spring forward" one hour before you go to bed tonight

Today is:

Arbor Day -- China; Taiwan

Celebrate Your Name Week -- Saturday:  Geneology Day, begin or continue the journey to learn about your family

Daylight Saving Time begins tomorrow -- Bermuda; Canada (most regions); Cuba; Greenland (Thule Air Base only) Haiti; Mexico (some areas); Saint Pierre and Miquelon; The Bahamas; Turks and Caicos Islands; US (most areas)

Donkey Appreciation Day -- formerly celebrated, but the lowly donkey is no longer as indespensible as he was; if you share my fondness for beasts of burden, celebrate it anyway

Girl Scouts Birthday -- US

Huddling of Fairies of the Third Flight -- Fairy Calendar

Girl Scout Sabbath -- US (encouraging Girl Scouts to wear their uniforms to synagogue services and represent their troop to their congregations; the final day of Girl Scout Week in the US)

International Fanny Pack Day -- started by someone who really likes the things (although i do admit they come in handy for keeping your money with you at all times when you have a garage sale)

Kronprinsessans Namnsdag -- Sweden (Name Day of HRH Crown Princess Victoria, the Heir Apparent; an official flag day)

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (three day festival, dates approximate; celebrates the marriage of Kore and Dionysos)

Martyrdom of Hypatia of Alexandria -- in 415, she was murdered for the three crimes of being intelligent, female, and pagan

National Baked Scallops Day

National Day -- Mauritius (anniversary of independence in 1968)

Plant a Flower Day -- sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation; now's a good time to give wildlife friendly perrenials a head start, starting them indoors if you have to 

St. Gregory the Great's Day (Patron of choir boys, educators, masons, musicians, popes, schoolchildren, singers, stonemasons, stone cutters, students, and teachers; England; Kercem, Malta; Legazpi, Philippines; Montone, Italy; San Gregorio nelle Alpi, Italy; West Indies; against gout and plague)

     note that Pope St. Gregory is also celebrated on Sept. 3, the date he was elected pope

     Graekarismessa (Mass of St. Gregory) -- Torshavn, Faroe Islands (traditional day on which the oystercatcher, their symbolic national bird, returns)

     Gregoru Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (Gregory's Day, similar to groundhog day for weather prediction)

St. Seraphina's Day (Patron of the disabled and handicapped, and of spinners)

World Day Against Cyber Censorship -- sponsored by Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International

Youth Day -- Zambia

Anniversaries Today:

Mick Jagger marries Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, 1971

Paul McCartney marries Linda Louise Eastman, 1969

Birthdays Today:

Frank Catalano, 1978

Aaron Eckhart, 1968

David Daniels, 1966

Darryl Strawberry, 1962

Marlon Jackson, 1957

Rob Cohen, 1949

James Taylor, 1948

Liza Minnelli, 1946

Al Jarreau, 1940

Barbara Feldon, 1933

Andrew Young, 1932

Edward Albee, 1928

Wally Schirra, 1923

Jack Kerouac, 1922

Gordon MacRae, 1921

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1881

Simon Newcomb, 1835

Charles Cunningham Boycott, 1832

Clement Studebaker, 1821

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Moses und Aaron"(Opera), 1954

"Fervaal"(Opera; d'Indy Op. 40), 1897

"Simon Boccanegra"(Opera), 1857

Today in History:

Martyrdom of Hypatia of Alexandria, philosopher, 415

Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius, 538

Orvieto, Italy, rules it will behead and burn Jewish-Christian couples, 1350

Jews are expelled from Syria, 1496

New Jersey becomes an English colony, 1664

The first steam engine in America installed, to pump water from a mine, 1755

Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain, 1881

In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time, 1894

The first main line electric train in UK, from Liverpool to Southport, begins running, 1904

The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States, by Juliette Gordon Lowe, 1912

The foundation stone of the new Australian capital in Canberra is laid, 1913

Mohandas Gandhi begins 200m (300km) march protesting British salt tax, 1930

The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism, 1947

The Church of England ordains its first female priests, 1994

Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO, 1999

Financier Bernard Madoff plead guilty in New York to scamming $18 billion, the largest in Wall Street history, 2009

The U.S. Census Bureau reports the world now has 7 billion people, 2012

JOGMEC becomes the first to successfully extract methane hydrate from seabed deposits, 2013

Research shows Chinese cites have decreased pollution by 32 percent on average in just four years, 2018

Tens of thousands of farmers from Indian state Maharashtra end protests over loan waivers, prices and land rights after promises from state officials and walking 167km to Mumbai, 2018