Tuesday...Full of Grace

At 6 a.m. every Tuesday, a big truck stops in front of our house and picks up our weekly household disposals.  That's the only significance Tuesday plays in my life right now, but there's a whole lot more to Tuesday than that.....

• Tuesday is a fairly popular first name for girls.  The one that comes to mind is Tuesday Weld.  She was one of our teen idols back in the 50s and  60s.  She played Thalia Menninger, the gold digging girl that Dobie Gillis couldn't get in the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

• Tuesday represents the planet Mars, primarily red in color.  Ancient holistic health practices encouraged wearing red and being around red flowers on Tuesday, as a way to improve general well-being through the subtle force of color.
• If you were born on a Tuesday, the Mother Goose nursery rhyme tells that you would be 'full of grace.'
• Before the religious Reformation, the day before Ash Wednesday was known as 'Fat Tuesday.'  That was because of the tradition of eating especially rich and fatty foods before the fasting started for Lent.
• In the United  Kingdom and Ireland, 'Shrove Tuesday' is often known as 'Pancake Day' or 'Pancake Tuesday.'  The name Shrove originates from the old word shrive, which means to confess.  Back in the Middle Ages, Shrove Tuesday was traditionally a day of confession prior to Lent.  All eggs and butter not allowed during Lent would need to be eaten up on Shrove Tuesday, so they made pancakes.  Their basic batter was made by sifting 4 oz of plain flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl.  They made a well in the center of the flour, dropped in an egg and 1/2 pint of milk.  The mixture was beaten by gradually drawing the flour into the liquid until smooth. 
• Australia's most famous Tuesday is the first Tuesday of every November, the day of the Melbourne Cup horse race.
• Our federal elections here in the U.S. are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  Tuesday was practical for polling in the 1800s because citizens would have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote, and they didn't want to leave on Sunday, their day of worship.

When I think of Tuesday, the 1997 non-fiction novel "Tuesdays With Morrie," written by Mitch Albom comes to mind.  It's the story about a professor who suffers with Lou Gehrig's Disease.  He and his former student meet on Tuesdays to talk, and their talks become powerfully emotional as both of them watch Morrie's frail body parts surrender to death, one by one.

"No matter how hard we try,

 words cannot express the horror, the shock,
 and the revulsion

 we all feel over what took place
 in this nation on Tuesday morning.

September 11 will go down in our history

 as a day to remember." 

 -Billy Graham, American Evangelist