“Dr. Fries, you are very old.”
-Helena

Little kids are the best at saying simple truths. Earlier this week, AAS kindergarten student, Helena, was kind enough to point out the simple truth in the quote above. I have worked in schools for a long time (hence the being very old quotation), and I have enjoyed countless funny comments from kids. Parents, you may not know this, but your kids often say funny things about you at school. For example, most of the teachers in the ES have a pretty good sense of which dads snore. 

Helena’s comment got me thinking. I don’t feel old. However, I am obviously very old, and I have a birthday coming up, so I’m just getting older. I don’t mind birthdays and getting older: it is a lot better than the alternative. 

Perhaps because it is my birthday season, I am aware that many people I know have birthdays around now (the Scorpio club). I was certain that late October and November must be the most popular times for birthdays, so I asked Google. I was wrong. According to the CDC (it’s odd to me that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has these statistics, but oh well), 9 of the 10 most popular birthdays are in September, with September 9 being the most popular. The only non-September most popular birthday is July 7. In case you are wondering, today (October 29) ranks 214 (out of 366) on the birthday popularity index. Oddly, February 29 is not last on the list: it ranks 347. I also learned that I was wrong about November being a popular birthday month. 

Regardless of November’s popularity as a birthday month, there are many things to celebrate at this time of the year. Halloween is a couple days away. November 1 is the Day of Enlighteners, which holds a special place for educators. Through the remainder of the calendar year, there are many religious and cultural celebrations. It is fun knowing that because AAS is an international community, not many days will go by without someone in our community celebrating something. There are also other days that are not celebrations but days to acknowledge important times and people in history, like Remembrance Day and Veterans Day.

Whether it be a day of acknowledgement, a religious or cultural celebration, a birthday, or just a sunny and crisp Saturday in fall, special days bring people together: that is good enough for me.

There is a lot of doom and gloom in the news these days, but there is far more to celebrate. As we launch into Halloween weekend and the final two months of the year, I hope yours is filled with celebrations big and small.

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sincerely,

Dr. Fries