“You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family.”

—Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society

(I’ve had family visiting for the past five days so I haven’t been online much—I’ll be catching up on reading, commenting and posting in the next couple days!)

I only have two aunts, but they are both special members of the family. This poem, by Joyce Sutphen of Minnesota, captures for me the warm, loving feelings the word “aunt” brings to mind.

The Aunts

I like it when they get together

and talk in voices that sound

like apple trees and grape vines,

and some of them wear hats 

and go to Arizona in the winter,

and they all like to play cards.

They will always be the ones

who say “It is time to go now,”

even as we linger at the door,

or stand by the waiting cars, they

remember someone—an uncle we

never knew—and sigh, all

of them together, like wind

in the oak trees behind the farm

where they grew up—a place

I remember—especially

the hen house and the soft

clucking that filled the sunlit yard.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine.  It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  Poem copyright ©2010 by Joyce Sutphen from her most recent book of poetry, “First Words,” Red Dragonfly Press, 2010.  Poem reprinted by permission of Joyce Sutphen and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2011 by The Poetry Foundation.

You are most certainly not aimed at careless gun-toting yahoos, but at upscale readers who appreciate the uniqueness of southern culture and have the disposable income to purchase custom bicycles or handcrafted tables, and visit Bermuda on vacation. I quite enjoyed the article “Pit Stops,” listing readers’ favorite places to stop on a road trip in the south—everywhere from cemeteries to art museums to roadhouses and produce stands. (Two places I know and love were listed: the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art and Bok Tower Gardens.)

So please forgive me for my uppity attitude and let’s be friends.

Which just goes to show something I should already know: you can’t judge a book (or magazine) by its cover (or title). Do not make assumptions about things or people without taking time to get to know them.

The title intrigued me—even though I wouldn’t exactly call myself a morning person, I do like to get up before everyone else so I can have some quiet and uninterrupted time alone. This is especially important to me because my husband and I share an office. Now that summer vacation is upon us and I don’t have to wake up so early to make sure my son gets off to school, I still plan to get up before everyone else so that my priorities don’t get lost in the daily shuffle.

And, according to Vanderkam, that’s why those pre-breakfast morning hours are so important to successful people: “[They] have priorities in their lives and early morning is the time they have the most control over their schedules.”

In this short, readable guide, Vanderkam draws on scientific research as well as anecdotes to illustrate how successful people use those crucial morning hours to nurture their careers, their relationships and themselves, and gives suggestions to help you make over your own mornings.

“The most successful people know that the hopeful hours before most people eat breakfast are far too precious to be blown on semiconscious activities,” writes Vanderkam. This makes sense to me. I know if I get my most important or most difficult task done early (or at least started), I’m in a much better frame of mind when the inevitable distractions and less-than-important-but-still-urgent tasks take over. If, on the other hand, I spend the hour before breakfast playing Mahjong Titans on my computer or reading random emails, I can easily find myself at 3 p.m. wondering where the day has gone and what I have to show for it.

I especially appreciated Vanderkam’s parallel between saving money and time use: “If you wait until the end of the month to save what you have left, there will be nothing left over. Likewise, if you wait until the end of the day to do meaningful but not urgent things like exercise, pray, read, ponder how to advance your career or grow your organization, or truly give your family your best, it probably won’t happen.”

As Vanderkam notes, every morning feels like a new chance to get things right. Starting off the day with success—accomplishing something meaningful to you, no matter how small—can only help the rest of the day to feel successful, too. She concludes, “When you make over your mornings, you can make over your life. That is what the most successful people know.”

What is your morning routine? How does it help you have a successful and productive day?

Note: For more discussion of morning routines and how to tweak your own, please see lauravanderkam.com. Also, I received no compensation for this review (other than an advance copy of the ebook) and the opinions are my own.

“No price is set on the lavish summer;

June may be had by the poorest comer.”

—James Russell Lowell, “The Vision of Sir Launfal”

Spent the weekend on the beach with my wonderful husband celebrating our 24^th anniversary (very belatedly—our actual anniversary is in January!). I’m a little sunburned, despite sunscreen and shade, but more relaxed than when we left. It was such a pleasure to be away from responsibility and to-do lists, to be with each other with only fun on the agenda. We walked on the beach, swam, did a lot of reading and poked around in some antiques stores and a flea market. I even did a little sketching:

Our room:

When I turned my wall calendar page to June this morning, I found a list of 2012 international holidays stapled inside. I was about to toss it, when I stopped to take a look. Along with the more traditional holidays like Christmas, New Year’s and various independence days, other countries celebrate some memorable and colorful holidays such as:

Picnic Day (Australia—Aug. 6) 

Tomb-Sweeping Day (China and Hong Kong—Apr. 4) 

Day of Goodwill (South Africa—Dec. 26) 

Waitangi Day (New Zealand—Feb. 6) 

Coming of Age Day, Children’s Day, Respect for the Aged Day (Japan—Jan. 9, May 5 and Sept. 1, respectively)    

Not to brag or anything, but we here in the U.S. have quite the array of holidays and  “National Month/Day of” designations ourselves. For example, in addition to the well-known Father’s Day and Flag Day, June contains some of most lighthearted and silly of these.  How about Chimborazo Day (June 3)—celebrating an inactive volcano that is supposedly the point on Earth that is closest to the Moon and farthest from the Earth’s center? Food lovers celebrate National Cheese Day (June 4), National Chocolate Ice Cream Day (June 7), Iced Tea Day (June 10), Corn on the Cob Day (June 11), National Fudge Day (June 16) and National Bomb Pop Day (June 28)—among others!

To work off all that ice cream and cheese, you can get outside for National Trails Day (June 2), National Running Day (June 6—also National Yo-Yo Day) or Go Fly a Kite Day (June 5).

Other days of note: Weed your Garden Day (June 13), World Juggling Day (June 16), Eat Your Vegetables Day (June 17), Take Your Dog to Work Day (June 22), Camera Day (June 29), and Meteor Day (June 30).

And, of course, there’s always Donald Duck’s birthday. Mr. Duck made his first appearance in the cartoon “The Wise Little Hen” on June 9, 1934. Happy 78^th birthday, D.D.!

Believe it or not, these are just a few of the days in June with official celebrations! Click here for a more complete listing.

What do you want to celebrate today? Me, I’m celebrating National Doughnut Day—meet me at Krispy Kreme for a free doughnut!