Poor Jilted June
By Fr. Tom Purdy, Rector of Christ Church Frederica
Ah yes, June is here. The summer month no one cares about. It’s conveniently sandwiched between the long weekends of Memorial Day and Fourth of July. Even though summer officially starts in June, we tend to think of July or August when we think about summer. It’s too soon after school lets out for parents to pay attention to the calendar. It takes until July for us to start counting the days left before school starts again. June just sort of happens. It’s our hump month, so to speak. It’s the Wednesday of the annual calendar. We’ve got to get through it to get to the second half of the year.
I know what you’re thinking. What about Father’s Day? It falls in June! But let’s be honest, Father’s Day is no Mother’s Day. Mothers had a national holiday a half century before fathers finally got their holiday. To be fair, men had almost everything else in the early part of the 20th Century, so I’m not complaining, just noting that Father’s Day isn’t in the same league. We still spend about 50% more on Mother’s Day (May is cheering somewhere) than Father’s Day. But that could be because men are happy with pizza and beer, which is notably cheaper than a fancy brunch.
I hear others saying, “Ok, if not Father’s Day, then surely weddings make the month stand out.” I’ll give you that. June barely takes the number one spot for weddings, as September has been growing in popularity. That’s nationally. Locally, however, June is no longer the preferred wedding month. It’s too hot. Let’s not forget that because June has the highest number of weddings, nationally, it also has the highest number of men who forget their wedding anniversary, which means June is probably a big doghouse month too.
For those of you who care about seasonal changes and whatnot, you might also contend that the longest day of the year falls in June. The summer solstice is always in June, which is a nice thing for the often forgotten month. But that’s a very Northern Hemisphere way to look at it. Down in the other half of the globe, the shortest day of the year also falls in June. What are the chances of that?!
Actually, I should be careful when I speak ill of June. I wouldn’t be here without it. My grandfather and my father were both born in June, and my parents were one of the bandwagon June wedding couples. So, I guess it has that going for it. But since most of you aren’t as excited about that the way I am, it really doesn’t raise the estimation of the month of June for most folks. So what can we do with this 30-day span of time? I have some ideas, because National Candy Month and National Dairy Month aren’t doing it for me either.
February can take the credit for Random Acts of Kindness Day, but I think June should claim the whole month in this regard. Because June seems to be an autopilot month, there is an opportunity to break into and through it with something special. So here’s your challenge: Do at least one nice thing for at least four different, random people this month. That’s one per week for those of you who are still figuring that out. Give someone a cold bottle of water. Buy the coffee for the person behind you in the drive-thru. Join the SSI Rocks movement and hide a couple of painted rocks to brighten the day of the person who finds them. Heck, you could even return your shopping cart to the cart return instead of leaving it in the middle of the parking lot. Feel free to start with the small stuff.
Here’s another idea: Write a thank you note every day in June to the people who make your life more enjoyable. I think most of us fail to give thanks where thanks is due, not only to God, but to those whose lives intersect with ours. A month of remembering how much we love people and how grateful we are for them is sure to make us feel special and remind us that we, in turn, are loved.
Because June tends to be so quiet we’ve got some time on our hands. And because it’s a boring, ordinary month, most people will notice a kind word or a kind action; it will stand out. Enjoy this month of June and make it something special. Who knows, maybe some extra kindness can make it become our favorite month after all.
