September 16th, 2021. My first thoughts most days when I wake up is how I’m going to start this post. After writing more than a thousand of these, it’s not likely I’ll come up with something entirely new. That’s not my goal. I want to remind you how lucky we are to be alive. To begin each day with a sense of gratitude is the foundation of happiness. Consider yourself reminded. Today is Anne Bradstreet Day, National Guacamole Day, National Collect Rocks Day, Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day, Free Queso Day, Trail of Tears Commemoration Day and Mayflower Day. I think I’ll raise my glass to Anne Bradstreet today. She was the first famous women poet in the New World. This day in 1620 the Mayflower departed Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims and a crew of 30 headed for the New World. On this day in 1848 slavery is abolished in all French territories. On this day in 1893, the Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma, opens white settlement homesteaders. In 1920 on this day the “Wall Street bombing” occurs at 12:01 when a horse-drawn wagon explodes on Wall Street, New York, killing 38 and injuring 143. The perpetrators were never caught. Hitler, on this day in 1941 orders that for every dead German, 100 Yugoslavs should be killed. Today is B.B. King’s birthday (1925). He said, “Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.” I do love the blues and the sweet music B.B. and Lucille (his guitar) could make. On this day in 2016 the Canadian novelist and short story writer W. P. Kinsella stopped living. He wrote the book “Shoeless Joe” which became the movie “Field of Dreams”. He said, “Hardly anybody recognizes the most significant moments of their life at the time they happen.” I know he’s right. That’s enough for this day. Be happy about what you have which is just another way of saying Abide.
