Middle Child's Day: A Look Back

          For those of you who forgot or didn’t even know – and I’m guessing that’s most people – it's been a whole month since Middle Child's Day. August 12, to be exact. I've taken my self-imposed post Middle Child's Day mental health break, and am finally ready to talk about how the day went.

          I’m sure many of you were too busy celebrating World Elephant Day, National Vinyl Record Day, or a host of other lesser holidays to remember, but here at the International Middle Child Union Middle Child’s Day Command Center, we were working around the clock and around the world to make sure people didn’t forget. I spent most of the day spreading the word over the airwaves from Boston to LA, making stops in Allentown, Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Des Moines, Hartford, Kansas City, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Seattle. I even reached all the way up to Toronto and all the way over to New Zealand, appearing on the nightly public affairs program “The Project.”

          Closer to home, however, things did not go as well, as the day was unacknowledged by several members of my own family. Ouch. And when I see tweets like these appearing on Middle Child’s Day, it’s hard not to get a little… disheartened. 

          So every year after Middle Child’s Day is over, I can’t help but wonder if maybe I could’ve done more. I start to think that all my effort was for naught. But just when I think it might be time for the I.M.C.U. to close up shop, I get a sign that maybe I’m actually making progress. This year, that glimmer of hope was “The Daily Chronicle,” a one-sheet newsletter circulated at my mother-in-law’s nursing home.

          Middle Child’s Day was the lead story -- headline news, above the fold! And then I find out “The Daily Chronicle” isn’t just available at my mother-in-law’s skilled nursing facility. It’s available at senior living settings all across the country!! Granted, it’s hardly reaching the masses, but it certainly has better circulation than most of the people who read it, so it’s a start. 

NEW ZEALAND UPDATE: On a recent broadcast of the New Zealand nightly current affairs show “The Project,” Kiwi rugby legend/guest presenter/Middle Child Kieran Read  offered to be a spokesperson for the I.M.C.U's efforts to raise awareness of Middle Child’s Day in New Zealand. As head of the I.M.C.U. I’m jumping at the opportunity! I may not know a scrum from a ruck, but I do know having a Kiwi rugby star on our team would be huge. In fact, I’ve already cooked up a fancy title for Read: I.M.C.U. Regional Director, Southwest Pacific. The transition from rugby union to Middle Child union should be an easy one for Read. It would be a no-show job for the most part. But if the day ever comes that we get a Middle Child’s Day parade in Auckland, I definitely expect Kieran to be our Grand Marshall riding on the I.M.C.U. float.