Exactly on Time

Hello. It is June and this is my holiday card. Why? Because I did it last year and now I’m trapped by my own nonsense.

Besides, December is overloaded with holidays and various observances. It is the junk drawer of months. June has capacity for dumb stuff like this new tradition of mine.

Many traditions are just questionable decisions that gain momentum. This is how icebreakers, Elf on the Shelf, and Rob Schneider’s career got started.

Anyway. Greetings. Happy Asteroid Day, Outfit-of-the-Day Day, Frozen Yogurt Month, and Accordion Awareness Month however you celebrate.

(Is anyone unaware of accordions?)

Dearly Beloved,

We gather here today to squint at the smoldering crater where the first half of 2026 used to be and see if we can identify any remains.

Rest was once again on my 2026 to-do list. Are you familiar with Rest? People always recommend it. “Get some Rest,” as though Rest is something I should pick up next time I’m out running errands. Wonderful. Where is it? Is there a form? Does it come in bulk? Send me the link.

Thus far in 2026, I have acquired no new hobbies. I’d like to thank myself for that. I also did not renovate any part of my house, body, or mind. Nor did I write the Great American Novel (or the Terrible American Novel.) This is either existentialism or executive dysfunction.

Back in April, I accidentally did a squat.

Spring made a brief cameo appearance here in the Midwest before being escorted off the premises by eighty-seven consecutive weather emergencies. There were tornado warnings, air quality alerts, severe thunderstorms, tentative thunderstorms, and at least one day when outside felt like the inside of a crockpot. (Meteorologists are encouraged to fact-check me in their own annual holiday card, which I assume is called “Warm Fronts.” )

Yes, I consult the weather app frequently. I don’t know why. The weather app has never once improved the weather.

Unfortunately, the world is still producing horrific headlines at a rate normally associated with cocaine usage, and we’re still expected to keep up with household chores and careers and Duolingo and figuring out whether consciousness is emergent or fundamental.

Human beings were not designed for this. Human beings were designed to get excited when we spot a delicious non-lethal berry in the wild.

Still, we persist. Perhaps humanity’s greatest tradition is committing to ridiculous things.

From the Office of Glorious Offspring, my children continue their relentless campaign to grow up. I support this in theory, while also distinctly remembering teaching them things like “this is how to use a spoon” and “don’t lick shopping carts” and “that’s not how pants work.” It’s beautiful. I hate it. I am thrilled. I am devastated. I am proud. I am confused. I am excited. I am worried. These are not opposite things.

I am handling this magnificently, obviously.

The dog also persists. His monthly tradition is to shed enough fur to create an emergency backup dog. He is the household’s resident barbarian king, and we love him.

Clearly, love is just deciding that someone’s nonsense and fuzz is worth celebrating.

Surprisingly (and against mounting evidence) I continue to write. Writing is strange because much of it looks exactly like not writing. Then, somehow, words appear. Occasionally I gather with insanely talented and profoundly kind writers, which is fortunate because writers require regular contact with other writers. Left unattended, we wander into the woods and become lichen.

Writing is my nonsense and fuzz.

As is customary in holiday cards, I shall now announce resolutions that have absolutely no chance of surviving until Labor Day. There are but three:

1. Learn to distinguish between “This is interesting” and “I now own three turnip-specific kitchen gadgets.”
2. Avoid arguing with fools unless the audience is exceptional.
3. Be punctual with holiday-related blog posts. I’m already drafting my Arbor Day piece. The jokes do not write themselves.

Traditions are the nonsense we decide to keep. Some are inherited and some are accidental. Few make much sense and most make life better.

And so, I present to you THIS BERRY for your excitement …

…and some thematic music for the rest of your Asteroid Day.

May we continue to commit to the bit.