Martha, My Dear

No particular reason. It just happens to be on right now, and hits the spot, as Beatles songs so often do. "Silly girl..." (Paul's sheepdog.)

It is Cuddle-up Day, which sounds as if it were invented by an advertising company. Still, it's sweet. Put it in the mix. A day doesn't insist on any tributes. It just requires the earth to pirouette on its axis once. (Big wheel, keep on turning.) The weather will provide some atmosphere. Events will take place, both random and predictable, and we can define it however we like.

It's also Epiphany today, which is the twelfth day of Christmas, with the twelve drummers drumming, and Three Kings Day in many countries, in honor of the three wise men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, who had an epiphany (a dramatic realization, usually amid the everyday) when they beheld the Epiphany (manifestation of the divine) of baby Jesus in the manger. In Mexico, kids leave their shoes out to get gifts. The shoes are stuffed with hay for the kings' camels. A nice touch, like the milk and cookies for Santa.

What defined my day today, if anything, was a career counseling workshop I went to called "Getting Unstuck," run by a peppy woman with the common sense of a wise aunt. Since I'm freelancing these days, I was applying the insights more broadly than getting unstuck with your job search. Namely, that a day is both that pirouetting shell of earth and sky and an interior hum of energy, from you to it, from it to you. And you can give a day meaning and momentum with what you put on your to-do list. In theory, anyway.

There are also those non-agenda ingredients: the things you add just because you like them, or that pop up as pleasant epiphanies.

I phoned Myrtle Beach, SC to determine if there is still a Myrtle Beach Open Sand Sculpting Competition. No confirmation of this, but it was cool talking to someone with a Southern drawl. Another ingredient, along with Martha My Dear, Matthew's eureka moment at figuring out a geometry problem, and maybe, why not?, cuddling up.

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Thursday addendum: Today, January 7th, is Old Rock Day. This is open to interpretation. Could be a celebration of fossils, stones, the Stones, Chuck Berry, Alcatraz, or Rock Hudson and Doris Day movies. Or tell someone who's old, "You rock!"