Did you know this is National Medical Librarian Month?

You didn't? And you have the gall to call yourself an American?

Actually, National Medical Librarian Month is just one of the "official" observances set aside for October. Would you believe there are about 100 such observances set aside for this month alone? And that's just for the month. There are about 70 weeklong observances (International Magic Week and Build Your Business with Business Cards Week are a couple of my favorites), as well as more than 100 daily observances (Mulligan Day is particularly close to my heart, as anyone who has ever golfed with me can attest). Check out this link to see all three lists.

And remember, these are for October alone. I can't even imagine how many there are over the course of an entire year. Nor can I imagine how difficult it is going to be for me to properly celebrate and honor all of these observations, and to treat each one with the dignity it merits.

My solution has been to combine as many as possible into one observance. It saves on time.

For example, this weekend I will be dining on caramel apples, country ham, chili, spinach and sausage at my church library with a dog I'll adopt while talking about prescriptions and global diversity with a woman who owns a small business. That way I'll be honoring National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, Apple Month, Church Library Month, Global Diversity Awareness Month, Go Hog Wild - Eat Country Ham Month, Spinach Month, Sausage Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, Talk About Prescriptions Month and Women's Small Business Month all in one shot.

But it will be very difficult to honor all of these observances without running into conflicts. For example, how can one honor Vegetarian Month and Sausage Month at the same time?

I understand how all of these observances came to be. People wanted to draw attention to their causes, so they said, "Hey, let's issue a press release that says, 'October is Wishbones for Pets Month.'"

Problem is, there are so many of these observances, they tend to get lost in the pile. Maybe they should just take a more direct, attention-grabbing approach and issue a press release that says, "Hey, be aware of Celiac Disease, darn it! That means you, punk!"

Oh, and one more thing. I think by writing this blog posting, I'm properly honoring National Sarcastic Awareness Month. That's one more I can check off my list.