Wake Me Up when September Ends

This is my case for the expulsion of September from the calendar! Can't we make August 61 days long (October ain't too great either)?! Of course, if anyone wants to defend September, then feel free. If you were born in September then I guess it'd be difficult to vote against, but then with no September you'd never be older than you are now...

Never liked September...

The end of the English summer and the cricket season, back to school, relationship break-ups.

September 11th.

My own personal September 11th came 15 days later in 2001 - when my beloved Dad collapsed and died in front of my Mother and I. September 11th has also been a bad date personally over the years, even without 9/11.

September 9th, 1980. Pet black cat Lucky run over and killed. A phone call an hour and a half later telling us that Great Aunt Edie had died.

Queen bee of the chicken coop, Matilda, dies on September 8th, 1994 - a day after a happy day meeting a girl. Hey, come on, this is September, even the very occasional good days have to be followed by bad ones.

Nature's carnage seems to be in full flow in September. Here at least. Baby blackbird collapses and dies in front of me.

Go nuts, screaming, punching and kicking the wall in a visceral, sobbing rage (only one winner) on September 14th, 2009. My beautiful ginger and white feline, Apricot Columbus (she liked exploring as a kitten) went off to check out the eternal plain. The good soul that is and was Patrick Swayze dies on the same day. Hear two days later that a family friend, Ray, has also died. Then, hear on the 17th that Mary Travis of Peter, Paul and Mary has died. Remember 'Puff The Magic Dragon' as one of my fave songs as a small child. Even for a week in September it's a bad one.

Several of my friends have been enduring particularly bad Septembers. As one said: "September sucks." In 2009 it's been a satanic September.

Now, what happened last September? Yes, another bad one, with personal worries. More good souls died then: Paul Newman, Richard Wright of Pink Floyd. I remember writing to that great Australian lover of wildlife and lovable eccentric Steve Irwin, days before September 2006 dawned, and thinking: "Do something good before September comes." On the 4th of the month, Steve is killed by a stingray, of all creatures.

What month did the last major war in Europe begin? I don't need to tell you the answer...

So that beautiful Green Day song, 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' goes on full blast again. It reduced my 78-year-old Mother to tears on first hearing. Green Day as stress counselors? Yes, Mother loved September once. She was married on the 24th of September in 1955 (yes I know this means I should thank September, but I won't), but my Dad died on the 26th, so September had to get in its retaliation for anyone having the temerity to have a good day in the accursed month. After Lucky died we got another black cat, Lucy, in September, and she lived to be seventeen and a half. So, September isn't all bad after all, and, as an AC friend says, the colors can be great... No, not convinced. I'll be picking up hibernation tips from hedgehogs by the time the next September rolls round waiting to create more mayhem.

Better get this finished. A bad news day today...