"Hallmark Holidays"

 Have you ever turned on morning TV and been greeted by the news that today is "Strawberry Ice Cream Day (January 15th), Fruitcake Toss Day (January 3rd) or Chocolate Cake Day (January 27th)?  As I write this, I have just learned that today is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Who knew? It seems like there is always something to celebrate, sometimes more than one thing. I'm not sure that Work Naked Day and Thank your Mailman Day should really share a date on the calendar with Stuffed Mushroom Day (All February 4th) but they do!  I listened to an interesting podcast recently about how these days are created and, not surprisingly, some of them are marketing ploys. You can guess that National Donut Day (June 3rd) might be promoted by Dunkin Donuts or one of the other chains. Corn on the Cob day (June 11th) might be the product of the Corn Marketing Association (if such a thing exists) but some of them are just for fun. There is a whole process around getting these dates on the calendar; I can't even imagine the story behind Put a Pillow on your Fridge Day (May 29th!) 😀

I guess the take away is this: there is something to celebrate every day. Many  women, seem to feel that they need a reason to spend money on themselves. They feel guilty, unworthy of paying for pictures of themselves. "Just the kids", they say, "I want to lose weight before I have my portrait taken." The result is that Mom is very often not in the picture. The thing is, Mom, your children love you as you are and they will treasure pictures of you when they are grown. I have a wonderful picture of my mother, taken in 1941, on her 21st birthday. When I dug it out one time she had nothing but criticism for the way she looked. "Oh, that old thing!", she said. But I love it! She is so young, World War 2 was going on and she had no idea what the future held for her. Now she is gone, I have this professional picture of her along with the black and white snapshots of her and my dad, when he was on leave from the Air Force, to record that period in her life.  She lived to be 94 and, although I have lots of pictures of her later in life, this one, before she was married, is a rare treasure.

Every day is the first day of the rest of your life.  Seize the day and take what opportunities come. Having professional portraits taken is not something to feel guilty about; think of it as a legacy to your children!