Real Men Do Romance

Re-posting an essay titled Real Men Do Romance each year on Valentine’s Day has become a Just Another Ordinary Day tradition. The essay, originally published in 2014, takes the form of a letter written to my sons, but is intended for all men who roam the earth in a state of perpetual confusion over romantic protocol, thanks to radical liberal feminist propaganda. For the record, real men do romance and real women (yes, even the liberated ones) are suckers for it…especially on Valentines Day.  Celebrate and be happy. read more

I Am a Baseball Mom

I am a baseball mom. My oldest son started playing baseball a few months shy of his fourth birthday. So yeah… I’ve been a baseball mom for almost as long as I’ve been a mom. The thing about being a baseball mom is it’s not a tenured position. When your last kid playing is done, your career is over too. Saying good-bye, even to a sport as cruel as baseball, is not so easy. Trust me, I know. My baseball mom days are numbered.

Today I find myself in the twilight of my youngest son’s college baseball career. It is the day before the last pool play game of the ACC conference tournament. Although a loss earlier in the week means the team cannot advance, I’m still hopeful it won’t be the end. If I dare to let it, my imagination runs wild with possibility. If they pull off a win tomorrow… if all the right teams lose… if the sun, moon and stars are in perfect alignment… maybe, just maybe that’ll be enough to squeeze a few more weeks out of the season. A road trip to a regional leads to a road trip to a super regional, which leads to the road to Omaha. It’s possible. You know what they say. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Stranger things have happened. After all, it’s baseball. read more

(Belated) Happy National Saxophone Day

One of the things we do here at Just Another Ordinary Day is raise awareness of obscure, unofficial holidays that otherwise might be misconstrued as just another ordinary day. We’ve helped you celebrate National Make Your Bed Day, National Dog Day, National Chocolate Day, National Talk Like a Pirate Day and, for obvious reasons, one of my favorites National Hug a Newsperson Day. As the mother of a saxophone-playing newsperson, National Saxophone Day also holds a special place in my heart. It’s a day that honors saxophones and saxophonists, most notably Adolphe Sax, the musician who invented it. . read more