It's August: Get those happy feet hoppin'!

Welcome to Happiness Happens Month, Or, if you prefer, National Win with Civility Month.

Every month is special to someone or someone’s cause. For the past half century, Chase’s Calendar of Events has maintained a national directory for such special months. I particularly like Personal History Month (May) and encourage my friends to celebrate Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month (September).

But days and weeks have special designations, too. As my Des Moines blogging friend Mitch Matthews points out, this Sunday, August 5, is National Friendship Day. Mitch points out that the national average of friends has dropped from 2.94 per person a decade ago to 2.08 today. That’s a lot of disappearing friends in a land of 300 million people.

Take advantage of National Friendship Day to reconnect with an old friend. Or two. Or more. Ideally, you’ll pick someone who can give your personal history project a jolt of adrenaline by rekindling pleasant memories. Ironically, one of my top candidates will be celebrating another milestone on Sunday.

Bunny Gibson became a national celebrity in the early 1960s when she was a regular dancer on American Bandstand in her hometown of Philadelphia. Bunny and her dancing partner, Eddie Kelly, made up one of the more popular couples on the show. Each had their own national fan clubs and received mail by the bag.

I met Bunny a few years ago when we briefly collaborated on a book about the behind-the-scenes Bandstand during her years on the show. Bunny’s an actress now and lives in the Los Angeles area where she works and pushes her youth program, “Dancing Is Our Drug of Choice.”

Although I talk to Bunny rarely these days, I’ll be thinking of her on Sunday, which is the 50th anniversary of the first national broadcast of American Bandstand on ABC. That was the day much of America was introduced to Dick Clark, who carried the honorary title of “America’s oldest teenager” for decades.

You may not remember Bunny, Bandstand or Dick Clark, but how about that 0.86 of a friend that you’ve lost in the past 10 years? Isn’t that person worth remembering?

Author Larry Lehmer's book about Dick Clark and American Bandstand --  Bandstandland: How Dancing Teenagers Took Over America and Dick Clark Took Over Rock & Roll --is available from Sunbury Press. His book about the last tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens -- The Day the Music Died -- is available at Amazon.

Flickr photo courtesy of  miss kristin g.

Comments

[Mitch]

Wow Larry!

Thanks for the shout out buddy! I really appreciate it!

It was also a great excuse to come back and check out your fantastic blog again!

Love it!

You do an incredible job buddy! Keep up the great work!

So... are you going to gather some friends on Sunday!?! Hope so!

Thanks again... I'll look forward to checking back in with you often!

Have a great week!

[Larry Lehmer]

Thanks, Mitch. Yes, I'll have my happy feet hoppin' on Sunday. Until my aching knees scream for me to stop, that is. Drop by again soon.