Six Sentence Story: Change

"When I went over to help Ms. Becky pack up, she introduced me to her friend and to the movers as your kid, and I told her you've just sort of adopted me, but I'm not really your kid," Red-headed Alec was saying, describing how he had helped the lady up the street pack up after our elderly neighbor died the other day.

"She said she still trusted me as if I was one of your kids, since you let me stay here, and that I worked harder than the movers," he continued.  "We managed to get the important stuff out of the house so the relatives who aren't in the will can come in the house now and Ms. Becky doesn't have to worry about them taking things like they did when Mr. C died."

You don't just stay here, you are part of our family, i told him, and i'm glad you were able to help her.

"Yeah, I've known your family since I was twelve, and I wouldn't change any of it, except maybe for a couple of the stupid fights I had with your eldest son.  Now, the fight with Dave where we both punched him in the face at the exact same time, I wouldn't change that for the world!"

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is Change.

Today is:

Assembly Line Workers' Day -- listed on many sites but no particular reason for it to be this day; then again, why not today?

Azhirnikhua -- Abkhazia (Day of World Creation)

Cakes and Ale Day -- emblems of the good life, a day to remember the good things we have, and be grateful

Celebration of the 2nd Week of Moonhopper -- Fairy Calendar

Daikoku Matsuri -- Kanda Myojin Shine, Tokyo, Japan (purification ceremony; through tomorrow)

Day of Defenders of the Native Land (Army Day) -- Uzbekistan

Feast of Divina Pastora -- Barquisimeto, Venezuela (religious procession attended by about 2million people)

Feast of the Ass -- Medieval Christianity (commemorates the Flight Into Egypt)

Festival International du Cirque de Monte-Carlo -- Espace de Fontvielle, Monte Carlo (the best circus acts and performers from five continents; through the 24th)

International Kite Festival -- Jaipur and Ahmedabad, India

Makar Sandranti -- India/Hindu Calendar (part of the sidereal solstice festivals)

National Dress Up Your Pet Day -- do you really dislike your pet this much?

National Forest Conservation Day -- Thailand

National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

Niino no Yukimatsuri -- Izu shrine, Niino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (snow festival with offerings made to bring a good harvest in the coming year; through tomorrow)

Nosso Senhor de Bonfim Festival -- Salvador, Brazil (Our Lord of the Happy Ending Festival, at the church by that name, the celebrations begin with washing the steps of the church today and celebrations run through this Sunday and to the next)

Organize Your Home Day -- another one that i can't figure out who started it, but i will say s/he was nuts to think this could be done in one day

Orthodox New Year -- RS, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Serbia

Pongal continues -- Tamil New Year, among the Tamil People (multiple day thanksgiving festival at the end of harvest)
     Tamil Thai Pongal Day -- Sri Lanka
     Maghi Parba/Maghe Sankranti -- Western Nepal

Ratification Day -- US (anniversary of the Treaty of Paris that recognized the independence of the US from England)

Revolution and Youth Day -- Tunisia

Sidereal Winter Solstice Celebrations -- throughout South and Southeast Asia

St. Felix of Nola's Day (Patron of domestic animals, eyes; Nola, Italy; against eye diseases, false witness, lies, perjury)

St. Sava's Day (Patron of Serbia and all Serbs)

Take a Missionary to Lunch Day -- to honor Albert Schweitzer's birth anniversary

Winterskol -- Aspen, Colorado (Aspen's annual "toast to winter", through Sunday)



Anniversaries Today:

Joe DiMaggio marries Marilyn Monroe, 1954


Birthdays Today:

Kristin Cavallari, 1987
Jason Bateman, 1969
Emily Watson, 1967
Shepard Smith, 1964
Steven Soderbergh, 1963
Lawrence Kasdan, 1949
Carl Weathers, 1948
Nina Totenberg, 1944
Holland Taylor, 1943
Faye Dunaway, 1941
Jack Jones, 1938
Andy Rooney, 1919
William Bendix, 1906
John dos Passos, 1896
Hal Roach, 1892
Hugh Lofting, 1886
Albert Schweitzer, 1875
Thornton W. Burgess, 1874
Richard Felton Outcault, 1863
Matthew Fontaine Maury, 1806
Benedict Arnold, 1741


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Bionic Woman"(TV), 1976
"Sanford and Son"(TV), 1972
"Sinfonia Antartica"(Vaughan Williams' 7th symphony), 1953
"Today Show"(TV), 1952
"Tosca"(Puccini Opera), 1900


Today in History:

The Knights Templar are formally approved by the Roman Catholic Church, 1129
Pope Leo X issues a papal bull against slavery, 1514
Spain annexes Cuba, 1539
The "Fundamental Orders", the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut, 1639
Massachusetts holds a day of fasting for wrongly accusing "witches", 1699
Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War, 1783
The US Supreme Court rules that racial separation on trains is unconstitutional, 1878
An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills more than 1000, 1907
Henry Ford introduces the assembly line to the production of the Model-T, 1914
The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight, 1950
The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank and banknote issuing authority, is established, 1960
Toronto, Ontario Mayor Mel Lastman becomes the first mayor in Canada to call in the Army to help with emergency medical evacuations and snow removal after more than one meter of snow paralyzes the city, 1999
The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years, 2004
Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan, 2005

Year, Rinse, Repeat

Bigger Girl's take on New Year's Day:

I'm going to go out and do something!  Defeat a dark wizard!  Tame a dragon!  Or at least go have lunch with friends!

(She then leaves to go have lunch with friends.)


#2 Son, on learning a new skill:

Mom!  You know how awful it feels when you need to sneeze but you can't?  Well, I've figured out how to force myself to sneeze!  I just breath in and out really fast in a certain way, and it makes me sneeze, and it feels great!  No more of that 'have to sneeze and can't' feeling!

(He then demonstrates his new skill.  He's pretty good at it, actually, he can get several sneezes in a row.)


Young Jacob, on not being able to find any member of the family at home except me:

I lost them!  How could I have lost them?  They are so loud!  I'm going to go out and find them.

(He then proceeds to go outside and walk around like a lost puppy until he finds them.)


#1 Son, on cups, plates, and etc.:

Mom!  I bought cups!  See, and I've put all of my stuff from my apartment in the cabinets.  Now, when we lost plates and stuff, you have more of them!

(Because, of course, it doesn't occur to them not to lose the plates and forks to begin with, that would be too simple!)


Little Girl, on George, my pink flamingo:

Mom, I think she's safe now.  They ran out of fireworks!  Let me put her back out in the yard.

(She puts George back out in the yard, and someone immediately steals one of her legs, so Little Girl has to chase it down.  Order, and two legs on the flamingo, are both eventually restored to as normal as possible around here.)


Sweetie, on New Year's Day dinner:

There's nothing like black-eyed peas and cabbage for dinner on January 1!  You have to have them, for luck through the year.

(Please note that the peas must be made with bacon and sausage, and he hates cooked cabbage except in one specific dish, so it has to be in the form of cole slaw.)


My conclusion is that the year number may have changed, but not much else has, and it is good.


Today is:

Advent of Inanna -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (date approximate; equivalent to Ishtar, Assur, Astarte, Isis, and others; a female warrior and fertility goddess)

American Historical Society Annual Meeting -- Washington, D.C., US (128th annual, with over 300 sessions covering a wide range of scholarly topics; through Sunday)

Berchtoldstag -- Alsace; Liechtenstein; Switzerland (a celebration of the goddess Perchta, or Bertha, guardian of animals and member of the Wild Hunt) related observance
     St. Berchtolds' Day -- Liechtenstein Bank Holiday; Switzerland Regional Holiday (because of the close association of his name with Perchta,  Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen's founding of Bern, Switzerland, is commemorated today; while not an official saint of any church, his day has become a big festival for children)

Blacks and Whites Carnival -- Colombia (through the 7th; manic and messy tradition, includes people painting themselves black one day, white the next, with a Grand Parade at some point during the week)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Day -- The Andrews Sisters recorded the song this day in 1941 (yes, before the US entered the war; it was for the movie "Buck Private" with Abbot and Costello)

Carnival Day -- Saint Kitts and Nevis (Last Lap)

Dainichi-do Bugaku -- Kazuno, Japan (11 traditional bugaku dances at the shrine; dates back as far as 718)

Dakar Rally -- Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile (the legendary event of off-road rallies; through the 18th)

Festival of Sleep Day -- begins this evening; celebrate by sleeping in tomorrow because it is assumed we could all use some extra z's after the holidays

Genshi-sai (First Beginning Ceremony) -- Imperial Palace and various shrines, Japan (a dance and musical art performed to round out the New Year's celebration)

Happy Mew Year for Cats Day -- because felines must have a day to celebrate the New Year, and they cannot share; sponsored on behalf of felines everywhere by Wellcat Holidays

Jour des Aieux -- Haiti (Founder's Day, sometimes translated Ancestry Day)

Kaapse Klopse -- Cape Town, South Africa (Minstrel Carnival; through January and most of February, but the main parade is today)

Kakizome -- Japan ("first writing", a day to do the first calligraphy written at the beginning of the New Year; often a resolution or poetry asking for a good year)

National Cream Puff Day

National Motivation and Inspiration Day -- US

National Science Fiction Day -- Asimov's birth anniversary

Ninth Day of Christmas

Nyilo -- Bhutan (Winter Solstice)

Positive Postcard Day -- some people now say you should fight the post-holiday let-down by sending someone an uplifting postcard; the original project said to send positive postcards to yourself, with instructions here

Run It Up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes It Day -- try something new today, in the spirit of the new year

Second Day of New Year -- also a holiday in many countries

"Someday We'll Laugh About This" Week begins -- to remind us to keep our perspective; sponsored by The Humor Project

St. Adelard's Day (Patron of gardeners; against fever, typhoid)

St. Basil's Day/Basil the Great -- Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches (yes, the Eastern Churches celebrated him yesterday; Patron of hospital administrators, reformers; Cappadocia; Russia)

St. Macarius' Day (Patron of of confectioners, cooks, pastry chefs)

Takai Commision Holiday -- Niue


Anniversaries Today:

Georgia becomes the 4th US State, 1788


Birthdays Today:

Kate Bosworth, 1983
Taye Diggs, 1972
Christy Turlington, 1969
Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968
Tia Carrere, 1967
Gabrielle Carteris, 1961
Alan Beckwith, 1952
Wendy Phillips, 1952
Christopher Durang, 1949
Dennis Hastert, 1942
Jim Bakker, 1939
Roger Miller, 1936
Isaac Asimov, 1920
Sally Rand, 1904
Barry Goldwater, 1902
Martha Carey Thomas, 1857
James Wolfe, 1727


Today in History:

The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire, 366
Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names, 1235
Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day), 1492
The first American revolutionary flag is displayed, 1776
The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded, 1881
"The Liberator", and abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston, 1831
The British reestablish rule in the Falklands, 1833
The first US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania, 1842
Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust, 1882
Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer, 1890
A record 19'2" alligator is shot in Louisiana by E. A. McIlhenny, 1890
Pres. T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola Miss, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black, 1903
The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms, 1905
The Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa, 1908
Lithuania gains independence, 1919
The US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls, 1929
Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R., 1959
Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth, 2004
Mauritius bans the use of plastic bags, 2013