One of the things we do here at Just Another Ordinary Day is raise awareness of obscure, unofficial holidays that otherwise might be misconstrued as just another ordinary day. We’ve helped you celebrate National Make Your Bed Day, National Dog Day, National Chocolate Day, National Talk Like a Pirate Day and, for obvious reasons, one of my favorites National Hug a Newsperson Day. As the mother of a saxophone-playing newsperson, National Saxophone Day also holds a special place in my heart. It’s a day that honors saxophones and saxophonists, most notably Adolphe Sax, the musician who invented it. .

National Saxophone Day is commemorated every year on November 6 (the day on which Adolphe Sax was born back in 1814) which gives me the rare quasi-viable excuse to call my saxophone-playing White House Correspondent. Don’t misunderstand me. We’re not estranged or anything like that, we text frequently, but every once in a while I want need to hear his voice (so I know he is alive and/or it is actually him I’m texting and not some psychopath holding him hostage) so I call… just to say hi or… I love you. Anyhoo, evidently, I am uniquely gifted at calling him at the WORST possible moments…

…so I’ve learned to stifle the impulse to call when it strikes.

I wish National Saxophone Day presented more than a thinly-veiled excuse to interrupt his work day, but since it doesn’t I’ll settle for reminiscing…

Here’s to the $150 Rascher mouthpieces (3 of them to be exact) left in various places around the house so the family dog could chew them. Here’s to one lovely fall afternoon, more than twenty-five years ago, when he decided to practice outside on the deck, prompting a frantic phone call from our next-door neighbor who thought there was some sick or injured animal – possibly a stork or wild boar-  running around in our back yard. Here’s to the sweet image of him tapping his left foot…always the left foot… during band concerts or while practicing in the living room. Here’s to impromptu kitchen jazz solos…You Say Potat-oh, I Say Potato-ah – while I cooked dinner. Finally, here’s to my favorite saxophone-playing White House Correspondent and thanks for the memories.

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