Thankful That Bin Laden Is Gone? Yes. Will I Celebrate? No.

Am I the only one out there who is just a wee bit queasy with the celebration of Osama bin Laden’s death?

Don’t get me wrong. I am glad that the world is rid of the mastermind behind countless terrorist attacks, most of all 9/11. Captured and killed? From what I’ve read of the reports, his death seemed necessary. But to read the headline “Bin Laden’s Demise: US Rejoices After A Decade”?

I’m not rejoicing.

Bin Laden’s death does not bring back our friends and family who perished ten years ago or since. Bin Laden’s death will not stop al-Qaida. Bin Laden’s death does not bring closure for anyone who lost a loved one through a terrorist act.

Bin Laden was a loathsome man. He spread hate. He celebrated violence. He encouraged evil. I am thankful that the world population is minus one diabolic villan. But there is still hate, violence and evil in the world without bin Laden.

I’m reassured to find that I’m not the only one uncomfortable with celebrating a man’s demise. An NPR online article revealed:“The Roman Catholic Church responded to the news of bin Laden’s death with this statement: “Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of everyone before God and man, and hopes and pledges that every event is not an opportunity for a further growth of hatred, but of peace.”” (Excellent article, by the way. Click on it when you’re done here.)

I don’t think my initial reaction to the celebrations erupting all over America and the world is necessarily Christian. It’s a reaction born of compassion for a human soul and an aversion to being the final judge of anyone’s fate.

But I still wrestle with my satisfaction that bin Laden got what was coming to him. I admit that I am grateful for our US troops and for what the rest of the world has contributed to flushing out evil and stopping it in its tracks.

I am thankful.

Yes.

But I will not celebrate.

Aye, Matey! Oh Wait. That Pirate Celebration Was So Yesterday.

Yesterday was International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Seriously, Matey. I’m not just barking up your barnacles. A real, bona-fide holiday. And dear Velva was celebrating with a wonderful drink recipe called The Salty Dog, the day before Talk Like A Pirate Day. I think she’s just a frustrated pirate wench, starting the celebration a wee bit early.

According to this site it was also Wife Appreciation Day. But when I researched it, another site said Wife Appreciation Day fell on September 15th this year. And yet another site suggests that it is always celebrated on the third Saturday of September. That would have been the 18th this year. Always celebrated? I haven’t heard a thing from my husband yet. Although he would argue, with so much disagreement on when this holiday falls, it must mean that every day is Wife Appreciation Day.

I’m still waiting for that to happen, too.

So by now, I’ll bet you’re wondering what we’re celebrating today, aren’t you?

National Women Road Warriors Day. To celebrate women who travel for work and still manage to run a sane household. Like my dear friend at The Absence of Alternatives, for example.

Or.

If that’s not enough to celebrate.

It is also National Punch Day. Maybe Velva or The Kitchen Witch could whip up a snazzy punch recipe for us?

Or do they mean punch? As in punch in the face? Well. I don’t hang with that crowd. So I have nowhere else to send you if you want to celebrate that way. My mom told me to stay away from the likes of you. And I listened.

It’s a pretty busy week if you’re looking for a reason to celebrate.

On Tuesday we have World Alzheimer’s Day.

On Wednesday it is Hobbit Day.

On Thursday it’s Dogs In Politics Day.

(I’m starting to feel a bit like the hungry caterpillar right about now.)

And on Friday, (oh – how appropriate) punctuating the end of a perfectly busy week is…

wait for it….

wait for it….

National Punctuation Day!

What will you celebrate this week?

A Very Merry Unbirthday To YOU!

After reading some of the comments to my self-indulgent post last week celebrating MY birthday I started to feel a little sad. I realized there are many people out there that don’t share my wide-eyed, Pollyanna approach to birthdays. But why not? We should all have people in our lives that celebrate our very existence. And especially around the anniversary of the day we stepped onto this wonderful planet. If we don’t have people in our lives that do this – then we should do it ourselves!

Call me self-indulgent. Call me self-centered. Call me crazy. Call me Jane. (Ah, I just made myself giggle. I crack myself up!) The day we took our first breath on this beautiful place we call Earth was a miraculous day, indeed. For each and every one of us. You owe it to yourself and your friends and family to live it up! Stretch out the celebration as long as you can. For yourself and for those you love. If you have 52 immediate  family members then you get to celebrate all year long! How cool is that?

Turning 30, for me, was a piece of cake. Turning 40, not so bad either. But when I turned 41, I was a little blue. But then I remembered, I’ve earned every single wrinkle, every gray hair, every single jiggle. Badges of honor I like to call them. And the wisdom I’ve gained – immeasurable. Oh sure, I have things I wish I’d done differently. But no regrets. If I had done things differently I wouldn’t be who I am today. I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Celebrating our lives, every day, is a good thing. Pulling out all the stops around our birthday is a great thing. Frankly, I’ve always felt sorry for those of certain faiths (not naming any names and please save your comments preaching to me – I’ll just plug my ears and sing La, la, la, la, la, la) that don’t celebrate birthdays. Marking the day that you made it in one piece (hopefully) all the way around the sun – again! – is such a fabulous miracle. A gift. It doesn’t happen for everyone – really, just open the obituary page in your newspaper. Young. Old. People die every year. I didn’t, this time around. I’m here again for my children, my husband, my family, my friends. And that’s a fantabulous, spectacuwonderfully, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious thing.

So, today I’m giving you permission to celebrate YOU. And you, and you and even YOU! Let’s all have a very, merry un-birthday celebration today. And if it really is your birthday today, well – Happy Birthday! You couldn’t have chosen a more wonderful day to be born!

Tunes for Tuesday – Old

One of my favorite recent songs by Paul Simon is “Old” off of the “You’re the One” cd. It makes me giggle. It puts my age into perspective. And every year I wear out that track on my iPod during this week. It’s my birthday week! My husband calls it “Jane-a-kuh” because it lasts for at least a week. We kicked it off this past weekend going to a Christmas Tree farm to pick out our tree. The kids and I decorated it on Sunday listening to Christmas carols. On Monday I received my first card in the mail and this morning a friend called to set up a birthday lunch date. Such fun already and it’s only Tuesday!

One thing my parents did right was our birthdays. No chores on your birthday. You chose the dinner. You chose the activity to do as a family. It was all about YOU! People would ask me if I felt cheated because my birthday fell in the Christmas month. Nope. The friends and relatives that I saw at Thanksgiving, that I wasn’t going to see at Christmas, would start their birthday good wishes then. My birthday would arrive and we would celebrate. And then there are always people who are late (God love ’em!) or who wouldn’t see me until Christmas, so good wishes would continue until the December holidays. Before you knew it, I was celebrating for an entire month. Who wouldn’t love that?

Then I became an adult. Fewer gifts. Less of a desire for parties. And at certain milestones, not so excited to recognize yet another year on this planet. This year I turn 40-something plus one. (Oh, my heart just skipped a beat. Yikes!) It’s hard getting older. Physically. Mentally accepting the new age. Or not accepting it, as the case may be.

Last Christmas, when my in-laws came to visit, they brought some things from the house they thought we might like. They were cleaning out their attic. “We’re only going to be around for about 10 more years,” my mother-in-law said. 10 more years? Whoa! I can’t think that way. I refuse to count down the number of years I may have left. But then I did it. And I doubled my age and if I’m anything like my grandparents I’ve just passed the top of the hill on my way downhill. Oh. My. God. Seriously? I truly am middle-aged. When did THAT happen?

Old – Paul Simon

“The first time I heard “Peggy Sue”
I was 12 years old
Russians up in rocket ships
And the war was cold
Now many wars have come and gone
Genocide still goes on
Buddy Holly still goes on
But his catalog was sold” – This is a bit before my time. But when I look back so much has happened in my short lifetime. First Man on the Moon.Vietnam. The Beatles. I’ll just insert those historical references.

“First time I smoked
Guess what – paranoid
First time I heard “Satisfaction”
I was young and unemployed
Down the decades every year
Summer leaves and my birthday’s here
And all my friends stand up and cheer
And say man you’re old
Getting old
Old
Getting old” – When I turned 25 my grandmother said to me, “Do you realize you’ve been alive a quarter of a century?” Whoa. When I realized that, I was a little depressed. A quarter of a century seemed sooooo old. I laugh now. To be 25 again? Where do I sign up?

“We celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day
And Buddha found nirvana along the lotus way
About 1,500 years ago the messenger Mohammed spoke
And his wisdom like a river flowed
Through hills of gold
Wisdom is old
The koran is old
The bible is old
Greatest story ever told” – Jesus, Mohammed alive over 1500 years ago. And we’re still talking about them. Their presence is still felt so very many years later. That kind of impact is amazing – and old.

“The human race has walked the earth for 2.7 million
And we estimate the universe at 13-14 billion
When all these numbers tumble into your imagination
Consider that the Lord was there before creation
God is old
We’re not old
God is old
He made the mold” – That line always makes me giggle, “He made the mold.” He certainly did. And in 2.7 million years my existence here is a mere blip on the radar. I don’t even know if I rate a whole blip. I’m not really all that old after all, am I?

Click here to listen to this fun song. I tried and tried to find  a video of it or a way to showcase the song itself on this page but to no avail. It’s only 2:20 minutes long and it’s free (as long as you haven’t used up your 24 other free “listens” at this site). So, in honor of Jane-a-kuh – take a little music break. It’s on me!