Sweetest Day

Well gentlemen it's that time of year again. It's the second romantic holiday of the year, that's right it's Sweetest Day. So what did you do for your wife or girlfriend? Want to know what  I did, I gave her a very romantic phone call... only after hearing it was Sweetest Day from the radio DJ this morning on my way to work. And that call consisted of Hey hunny Happy Sweetest Day! I know, Casanova style. Yeah I totally forgot about it sue me. It's kind of hard to remember a holiday when it doesn't have a set date. In fact it's official day is the third Saturday of October. I will be quite honest, I probably wouldn't remember to vote if it wasn't for all those political ads polluting my television every year starting in September. Now Valentine's Day that's an easy one February 14th. And it is that day every year no matter what day it falls on. So as I was driving down the highway heading to work I got to thinking, what exactly is Sweetest Day and how did it come to be a holiday? Well after probing my sources (aka a google search) I was able to come up with an answer. So here is the shortened version.


It seems Sweetest Day, which is only really celebrated in the Great Lakes Region of America, began in 1921. It appears that about 12 confectioners in Cleveland wanted to make the Sweetest Day in the Year by handing out  20,000 boxes of candy to those less fortunate. And it just sort of snowballed and contorted from there. Fast forward to modern times, 2010, and it is mainly a holiday now for men to show their affection to their wives by giving them the usual flowers, cards, and candy. But men here is the interesting part of it, women are supposed to give their men bacon, or another meat product. I got this information from Wikipedia so muchos gracias for that. I don't know about you, but I for one just feel it is a Hallmark holiday any  more. So, on the chance of making the wife mad, I won't be getting her anything. Honestly I love my wife, I really do, I tell her that everyday. I let her know all the time how special she is to me, and how lucky I am to have her in my life. Why do I  need to have a holiday to say it when it is said everyday? Honestly people if we want to celebrate this day the way it was intended then maybe we should take sometime out and go find someone who has fallen on hard times and let them know we care by giving them a gift. I am not saying give them candy, but maybe give them groceries, or an anonymous donation.In this economy we all know someone who is in this situation. And if you can't afford that maybe an open ear and a cup of coffee. Let them know you care. Let them know you're their for them. And maybe, just maybe, you might make their day, by letting them know they have a friend. And don't we all need some of those, you can never have too many!