Celebrating Wednesday's #1

Well what would you know? There's a whole calendar full of days and each and every one is dedicated to something (or more than one something)! I have no idea who thought up some of the crazier ones, but it's fun. To celebrate this new revelation which I have discovered, I thought I would celebrate Wednesday's with you by sharing one or maybe two things that each Wednesday is representing, celebrating, commemorating or highlighting.

Now before I begin, I must also mention that I have discovered that not only is each day a special day, but each month is also special, I know, it's exciting isn't it? For instance I have learnt that November 2016 is, amongst other things, Manatee Awareness Month. Why am I telling you this, when I live in the UK and never see a Manatee floating around the South East Coast of England? Well, I cannot tell a lie, it was a jolly good excuse to post a picture of one of this cute creatures...

So back to the Wednesday 9th November, 2016 and the day is...

World Freedom Day. Now this is a US day set up by President Bush back in 2001 to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall on the same day two years previous. I don't know about anyone else, but is there a bit of an irony in this, anyway, not a political blog, so I will leave you to mull that one over yourselves and instead I shall share what World Freedom Day means to me in good old Blighty.

For me it's about thinking about how fortunate we are. I have daughters and living in the UK that means they have access to a good education. They can expect to work in whatever industry they choose regardless of their gender. They are free to wear what they want (within reason, it has to be mum sanctioned) and they will be able to marry the man of their dreams, not a man chosen by myself or their father.

As a nation, we are free to follow, or not to follow a faith. We can travel freely and are able to read and hear news from around the world and we have freedom of speech.

These may seem like small things, but there are people around the World who don't have such liberties. In some countries, girls do not have access to education and are treated as second class citizens. In others it is illegal to be gay. Other countries heavily censor news content etc that is printed or broadcast. The list goes on, but I will finish here because it's not supposed to be a heavy post, just a gentle reminder that we are lucky to live where we do with the freedoms and opportunities that those freedoms bring.

Well, almost finished because today is also Chaos Never Dies Day (I did say I have no idea who comes up with these) and for those of us who are parents, we know this one to be very true indeed.

No matter how hard we plan to make sure all goes smoothly, you can almost guarantee that one small person can throw a very large spanner into the works and it's usually timed perfectly with you needing to leave the house (ten minutes ago). So on Chaos Never Dies Day, remember you are not alone, chaos happens, let's celebrate it ;-)