N is for NaNoWriMo and National Blog Posting Month

I celebrate every day.

It started on a lark, when, one day whilst teaching my class at the Deaf School, I noticed that it was National Dog Day. I used it as a prompt for the kids.  Getting students of low language to author ANYTHING beyond a sentence is like pulling teeth. Why should they write? They’ve learned sign their whole lives and they don’t know English, nor do they do it. I was constantly looking for that magic item that would open them up. We’d start each class with chatter, to get the language flowing, finding vocabulary and concepts that they may wish to put into their journal before class got underway.

On a sidenote, most of the students would write what we talked about, that language flowing bit. That’s how hard it was. No movement beyond that. No ability to verbally express a concept wholly of their own volition.

This day was a whole lot sadder.

“Okay, so? How many of you have a dog?”

The entire class would raise their hands.

I then picked a student. “What’s your dog’s name?”

“I dunno.”

“You don’t?”

“No.”

“What do your parents or brothers and sisters call the dog?”

“It doesn’t have a name.”

This was repeated. The parents and family didn’t use sign at home. Made sense. So, to the students, there was this magical animal that would love them but then would waltz away for some reason (someone called the dog). The family never would even take the time to tell their child the name of the dog. The student didn’t even know that the name was usually printed on the collar. I made it a homework assignment...to show them that language is everywhere.

The point of my story, however, is a bit misleading, I’m afraid. National Dog Day, the wonderment of canines, is one of my favorite holidays, obviously, but it brought into focus something totally unexpected.

The fact that we don’t pay attention.

Those kids? They didn’t know something right under their collective noses and never thought to look, sad as it was. No one does. We miss the fact that life? Life happens in those details we step past, without paying attention to. Time passed and I noticed that, on occasion, those old journaling habits floated over to social media. I started announcing the National...this day and the National….that day. And people jumped for joy. I learned that one friend has a corn chip aversion on National Doritos Day or that another friend still had a picture of themselves with a plunger on their head.

I guess they never knew when that would come into play, now, did they?

My point being, and this is very Zen, but we’re missing out. Every day is a gift, yes, just like the saying goes, hence it’s called, “the present.” We go to work, we whine, we come home. We see the cat had puked on the linoleum; not that the cat is still with us and purrs stronger than ever before.

I found that the posting of the holidays does more than just make for wonderful, terrific discussion and disclosure. It also reminds us of things we might have missed. Even myself.

This is a freegin’ long ass intro, but it’s working so I’m going to go with it.

November is National Novel Writing Month;  the NaNoWriMo of the title.  It’s a holiday which you would think more people would celebrate. People are continually astounded that I’m a writer. I think it’s because my grammar is for shit and I have the cursive ability of an experienced physician. This shock usually comes in two stages. First, they immediately ask what I have written. I find this is a bust, especially if it’s here in the south.

They don’t read to begin with. Asking what I’ve written and asking if they can read it usually leads to….

….they have story.

EVERYONE has a story.

And I’m not complaining, not one bit. In fact, it’s cute. We all have stories. We think, naturally, within the confines of a narrative. It’s glorious. Our recall is built like the greatest action flick. Sometimes that story is fiction, sometimes, mostly, it’s nonfiction. A jilted lover, a kick to an exe’s groin.

It’s fascinating.

Here’s the thing, and why I’m writing about this topic.

They should be writing. Seriously. Every single one of them. And these terrific little holidays, like NaNoWriMo and this month’s Blogging from A-to-Z? What a perfect way to get started. These are the same people that run out to the buffet because I reminded them it’s National Buffet Day, or watched a game show on National Game Show Day.

But these terrific tales? Left to the side.

A dear friend of mine is suffering from the long journey in and out of having cancer. Think of the people’s minds she could have eased with just the mere recounting of the horrors she survived, the pain that was lessened in hearing that they were not alone. I love my podcasts, a terrific motivator to walk the corgi-loos through the shadows of late evening. And one such podcast is StoryCorps, from NPR. Today was about baseball.

Fuck baseball, can’t say I know anything about it.

But the stories, THE STORIES! Their conviction, their loves and passions? I was there. They took the time to talk about it in a recording booth.

I cannot help thinking that I’m not doing enough to get these individuals’ stories. For every conversational tale, I feel a bit hurt that I cannot add it to my list to messages to send to the world about us.

I will continue to celebrate these random holidays, especially the writing ones. And, yes, the eating ones, I’m sure. We have a wonderful, terrific planet under our feet-with so much to see and do, the goals lofty and pure.

What will you celebrate? Will you tell us a story too?

Peace.