All over Facebook, I’m seeing ‘Happy National Siblings Day!’. Plastered onto my timeline, are beautiful black-in-white photos of three sisters, colorful shots of brothers playing sports together, and brothers & sisters embracing in appreciation. I had no idea that there was a day set aside for brothers and sisters. In all my 37 years, I’ve never heard of such a day. I guess I can put this holiday right up there in my ‘favorites’ now, along with Valentine’s Day (a.k.a. pouring-salt-into-the-wounds-of-singles day), Mother’s Day & Father’s Day (a.k.a. anti-orphan day), and even Grandparents’ Day (a.k.a. those-of-you-without-living-grandparents-shall-cry-all day…day).
All the while, my wheels are turning, attempting to create, invent, explore the idea of my newly made-up holiday. We will call it ‘National Individuals Day’. This is a very special holiday, that absolutely everyone can celebrate. It’s a holiday for each and every person, whether we have family or not, siblings or not, parents or not, grandparents or not, a significant other…or not. This holiday can be celebrated by every living human, because it recognizes the individual as independent from connections. Connections with other human beings are awesome in so many ways. Absolutely. But what about those of us that have lost those connections? Maybe we’ve had them. Maybe we’ve lost them. Maybe we just need a day to sit back, put on our individual party hats, take out a single confetti, and relish in our solitude, while indulging in one tiny cupcake that we can don’t have to share because we can celebrate our ‘party of one’.
Only the Lonely 