Happy Calkins Day! (Amid Frustrating Technology Woes)

I could spend this post grumbling about the time I lost this past week to a technology issue that just won't resolve itself, no matter how many hours of lost time trying and the large amount of in-house expertise we've thrown at it.

I'm behind in "life" tasks, housework, responding to social media, and my own personal fiction writing goals.

So now that you know why I've appeared to recently "ghost" any of the above, I'm moving onto something happier, cheerier, and with a tone that I hope is close to your heart, too.

Happy Calkins Day!

And what does exactly does this mean?

Despite the multiple posts I've written this week about the BryonySeries holiday that Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, invented for himself before the series existed (here, here, here, and here) the heart of Calkins day is not about attending any event or a ploy to market books.

If Ed Calkins (a real person turned Irish vampire in the BryonySeries turned author for the series) can "steal" my characters for his writings I can "steal" his holiday for the sake of positivity.

Calkins Day, which is celebrated every year on Feb. 13 (by us), is Ed's birthday.

It's the day after Lincoln's Birthday and the day before Valentine's Day.

Ed thinks it should be a three-day holiday. And why not? 

Here are three good reasons:

1) No matter how anyone in 2023 considers Abraham Lincoln, few people would argue the world today needs strong leaders.

2) Calkins Day represents laughter, imagination, and generosity. Few people would argue the world needs all three today, perhaps more than ever.

3) Valentine's Day represents love, all love, not just romantic love, which is capricious by nature. Do you know anyone who doesn't need to give or receive more love? No? Me, neither.

So to those points:

1) Let's resolve to be worthy examples of people who follow us.

2a) Let's laugh a whole lot more and smile more often than that. 

2b) Give yourself permission to imagine and create without expectation that the result isn't "good enough" by some expert's standards. I mean, you can't bake a delicious cake without spilling some flour.

2c) Adopt of spirit of generosity, first with yourself and then with others. If you're generous with the time you need for yourself, you'll be more happily generous with the time you can give others.

3) Finally love a whole lot more. 

Love yourself with all your flaws.

And love others in the same manner.

Happy Calkins Day!

A Cat That Knows Her Bounds (and tests them anyway)

Because of my asthma, none of my cats are allowed near my pillows, and they know it.

Woodstock is Faith's comfort animal, and she drags him everywhere.

As I started to snap a photo of the evidence to show the kids...

...Faith rushed up with this photo bomb, 

and then hurried to remove the evidence.

I hope you're smiling - and that the smile continues the rest of today.

By the way (and you'd thought I'd forgotten), the BryonySeries Holiday Book Sale ends tomorrow.

For every $5 of books purchased, you will receive a $1 coupon to The Book Market in Crest Hill. If you live out of the area, consider buying anyway and donating your credits to a child in need to further the cause of literacy.

For details, visit bryonyseries.com/promotions.

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: Laugh

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Laugh

I never realized how much we laughed, until I had recently had hernia surgery.

My twenty-year-old son Timothy, especially, can find humor in everyday situations, to the extent that I often had to send him out of the room because laughing post-surgery really hurt.

I am convinced, though, that part of our family's ability to survive grim events is because we poke hilarious fun at our circumstances, whatever they may be. Some of our jokes are very strange, so I won't quote anything here, but...

Everyone finds something funny. If you haven't had a good laugh in awhile and life is looking a little gray, maybe you're long overdue. Resources abound, especially online, so give yourself permission for a hearty laugh today.