SPEAKING OF VALUES By Joseph Walker

Celebrating little blessings In celebration of the recent National Limerick Day (May 12 - you can look it up), I offer the following: A newspaper writer named Joe Thought he could best Whitman or Poe. But wouldn’t you know it? He can’t be a poet! He never can figure out how to end the blasted thing.. you know? I think you see my problem. So OK, there is no poetry in my soul. I can at least celebrate great poetry on National Limerick Day - and almost any time I visit a public restroom. In fact, there are plenty of things to celebrate. According to the Holidays.net Web site, May 13 was both National Receptionists Day and Root Canal Appreciation Day. If you are a receptionist for an oral surgeon who does root canals, May 13 was like Christmas. Only instead of jingle bells, you have the high-pitched whine of the dentist’s drill. And.. you know.. agonized screams and stuff. If you’re not a receptionist and you don’t particularly appreciate root canal, you still had Stevie Wonder to celebrate on May 13. It was his birthday. Try to imagine a world without “You Are the Sunshine of My Life.” Then again, why would you WANT to imagine such a place? Or you held off until May 15, it was International Virtual Assistant’s Day, National Bike to Work Day, National Defense Transportation Day and Nylon Stockings Day. I know, I know - these collective days just cry out for some sort of simultaneous observation although I can’t for the life of me figure out a way to link computers, bikes, bombs and nylons (although it does sort of remind me of the diagnostic trail on a recent episode of “House”). For my part, I saved Friday’s celebratory carbs for National Pizza Party Day. I know, you thought every Friday was National Pizza Party Day. But evidently there is one real, actual, official day during which it is not only appropriate to have a pizza party, it is actually the politically correct thing to do. If you love America you’ll have pizza on Friday. It’s patriotic (especially if you don’t have anchovies, which are, in my view, un-American). Then again, maybe you don’t need a proclamation to tell you what to celebrate in your life and in the world around you. Sure, everyone wants to celebrate limericks, receptionists and root canal, and we can do that together - nationally. We also celebrate the birthdays of those who are important to us, and significant anniversaries in our lives. And God, family and country deserve - and hopefully receive - their fair share of celebratory observance from most of us, too. But what about the little things that make us happy? For me that list would include Diet Dr Pepper, “Law and Order,” meatloaf, the color blue, Celtic music, family reunions, “How Great Thou Art,” nice people, power tools that actually work and listening to my children sing. I’m sure you have a similar list, don’t you? Do we just consume these things, or do we truly enjoy them.. respect them.. appreciate them.. celebrate them? I’m not saying we have to have a Personal Meatloaf Day - although that isn’t a bad idea, now that I think about it. I’m simply suggesting that we keep our hearts and minds open to the little blessings - the “tender mercies,” if you will - that bring smiles to our faces and warmth to our souls. Don’t take them for granted. Enjoy them. Savor them. Appreciate them. Whether or not there’s a National Day of Appreciation.