Two Very Special September Holidays!

Some friends and I were talking recently about favorite holidays. Two of my favorites are coming up in the next few days! Yep! “Talk Like a Pirate Day” and “Respect for the Elderly Day!” RESPECTING PIRATES AND PIRATE CULTURE International Talk Like a Pirate Day (TLAPD) is September 19 and was created by some bored people, as a joke. It’s kind of straightforward what you do on that day: you talk like a pirate. If you’d really like to be extra “festive” you can dress like a pirate. Although I have an event at King’s Island Amusement Park on Sunday, I am considering at least wearing an eye patch and blurting out some pirate lingo. I think this will really make Kevin, who’s accompanying me, feel really “special.” For the occasion, I created a special card (in .pdf form) for you to print out and give to your friends and family members on this momentous day. Related: What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor sea chanty RESPECTING THE OLD AND OLD PEOPLE'S CULTURE Respect for the Elderly Day (or Keiro no Hi) is September 20, and a relatively new Japanese holiday, but has a nice history. The tradition involves visiting elderly relatives. One offers them gifts and helps with tasks at their homes. In 1999, coworkers decided that we would show some extra respect for Marion Schwarz, a 52 year old elderly woman on our team. We decided that we would pitch in on a small gift. We had thought about offering her house (which she self described as mounds of junk with cleared pathways between rooms) and offering to bathe her. But we couldn’t find volunteers to do either, so we gave up on the idea. Last year, we took Marion out for supper and I created a card (in .pdf form) for her, in light of her decrepit state. She was truly touched. It's all about respect.