National write a post about this day day!

"Happy National Carbonated Beverage With Caffeine Day, Mr. Jones."

The "National" days are getting a little out of hand, aren't they?

Did you know that October 11th is National Give A Mom A Nap Day? Not that I'm against it. In fact, of all of the National Days I've encountered folks mentioning lately it is probably the most reasonable/worthy of them all. Moms work hard, and they deserve a nice nap.

The day after I encountered the announcement for National Give A Mom A Nap Day on Facebook I went to get some vaccinations. I hate shots.



When I checked out of the doctor's office I noticed that on the desk of the office administrator's desk was a card. "HAPPY NATIONAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONALS DAY!". After searching diligently (clicking the first google result) I found that this day is actually just plain ole Secretaries Day with a new mask. Which prompted me to ponder the titles we give ourselves and how interesting it is that there is a day celebrating a group of people who feel cheapened by the title of "secretary" to the point that they decided upon the completely self important (if not completely generic) blanket title of "Administrative Professional".

From the website:

National Professional Secretaries Week and National Secretary's Day was created  in 1952 through the work of Harry F. Klemfuss of Young and Rubicam. Klemfuss recognized the importance and value of the position to a company or business. His goal was to encourage more women to become secretaries. Using his skill and experience in public relations, Klemfuss, promoted the values and importance of the job of secretaries. In doing so, he also created the holiday in recognition of the importance of secretaries. 

The name of this special day has changed and evolved over the past few decades. But, the importance of recognizing these vital individuals remains. The two new terms in use today are: "Administrative Professionals" and "Executive Admins". The two names sometimes mean different roles and responsibilities in different companies and organizations. Both are broader terms, that encompass more positions than the original "Secretary" role. 

The name change recognizes and acknowledges that the role has changed significantly since 1952, and for the better at that. In Harry Klemfuss' day, these positions were the realm of women. Today, you find males in these positions.

There it is. A day that was created to celebrate Secretaries as they existed in 1952 bent around to include more positions. Why? Is every position so special that it deserves it's own day? Are we that desperate for validation?... Why?

When I observe this type of thing I become borderline obsessed with understanding the thought process behind them. And while I certainly don't plan to bore you with all of my internal dialogue regarding these observations (not to mention that that would take much too long to type out), I am very happy to report one of my findings.

A list of National Day days!

Of course there is a website with a monthly breakdown of National Day days, why wouldn't there be? It's 2015 after all, and if the poor soul who compiled the list for this website wouldn't have done it already, I would probably be in the library digging through the National Day registry for the most entertaining bits. But that's why we have the internet.

My favorites from October (Just October!) are:

1. National Custodial Workers Day
2. National Fluffernutter Day (Something I had not heard of until just now that is surprisingly not a medical condition).
3. The International Day of Rural Women
4. National Feral Cat Day
5. National iPod Day

Real days on a real list that real people celebrate. 

If you love something, celebrate it. Often! Giving things a day means we have an excuse to only acknowledge them once per calendar year, and I for one believe that something called a Fluffernutter should be celebrated more than once per year!

Also, somehow most calendar days are marked as more than one National Day day, so there are bound to be people out there, like me, who might become torn between celebrating days like October 15th, which we all know is both National Get Smart About Credit Day AND National I Love Lucy Day!

Also, as for National Give A Mom A Nap Day, I'm sorry to report that in the course of my investigation into National Day days I found that October 11th is taken... 

Have you ever met a mom who could sleep through National Sausage Pizza Coming Out Pulaski Memorial Clergy Appreciation Day?