June is Busting Out All Over.  
            As I began thinking about the blog for June, a song from Carousel, one of my favorite Rodger and Hammerstein musicals, came into my mind. The song is appropriately, “June is Busting Out All Over.” The song captures the feeling and intensity of June. Here is a snippet of the lyrics:
 Marc went out like a lion,
A-whippin’ up the water in the bay .
Then April cried
And stepped aside.
And along came pretty little May!
May was full of promises,
 but she didn’t keep them quick enough for some,
And a crowd of doubting Thomases,
 Was predicting that the summer’d never come, 
but it’s coming; by gum!
Y’ken feel it come.
Y’ken feel it in your heart? 
 Y’ken see it in the ground,
 Look around, look around.
            This song captures the experience of June.   The trees are full of  all shades of green colored foliage. The birds have built their nests, and their chicks have hatched. Flowers are in bloom, especially roses, which are my favorites.  The days are warmer, lighter and one feels fully alive. 
  June was most rightly named for the Goddess Juno, patroness of marriage and childbirth.  In the Roman mythology, she was the female counterpart of Jupiter (in Greek mythology Zeus) and was known as a protector of women and children.  The June holidays have a common theme and thread of protection and care.  To begin, June 5 is World Environment Day which promotes the care of the world.  Flag Day, which promotes patriotism is on June 14.  On June 19, we celebrate Juneteenth commemorating the reading of the emancipation proclamation which effectively liberated enslaved people on 1865.  June 21 is National Indigenous people’s Day, and the summer solstice begins which is the start of summer.  
And of course, we have Father’s Day on June 18 which honors and celebrates fathers who are the protectors of their children and families. Just as we celebrated Mother’s Day in May, we set aside Father’s Day to celebrate and honor fathers and men who have embraced the essential role of fatherhood.  A father is defined as the male parent and someone who cares for or looks after someone.  A child relationship with their father helps build stability and trust in a child.  Again, the ideal father is a model of protection, care and strength  
The nation’s first Father’s Day was celebrated in 1910 in Spokane, Washington and was founded by Sonora Smart Dodd who held her father, a civil war veteran, in high esteem.  He had raised her and her five brothers alone.  While hearing a church sermon about the newly-recognized, Mother’s Day, Dodd felt strongly that fatherhood should be recognized as well.  While President Wilson in 1916 supported the holiday, it took until 1972 when newly-re-elected President Richard Nixon made it a legal holiday.  Father’s Day was originally celebrated in Catholic Europe in the 1500s, and it was celebrated on March 19, St. Joseph’s Day. St. Joseph was the foster father of Jesus.  The idea was brought to the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese and the traditions carried on.
 June’s the perfect month for a barbecue or picnic on Dad’s Day. If your Dad is not with you, if you had other father figures in your life, or if you want to reminisce or experience what a good Dad is watch My Three Son’s, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Father Knows Best,  Family Affair, or Full House. It will give you a chuckle and appreciation for the ideal of what a father is or should be.
Let’s not forget graduations and weddings in June, of which there is always and abundance of in the days ahead. It is also the season for cherries and soft- shell crabs. It is also prime time for fishing and crabbing.
  All in all June is full of light, celebrations, and holidays. A perfect time to celebrate life!  Get out and enjoy all its possibilities and promises.