Solstice Tooth

I missed the Summer Solstice.
It occurred last Wednesday, the 21st of June, and marked the day of the year with the most sunshine that we're going to get, unless you live on the equator in a tropical paradise (or third world nation), or at one of the two poles and desperately spend all of your time trying to stay warm.
"missed it".
I suppose I didn't really "miss it", although I didn't realize I was experiencing it. I got up early that day and actually saw the sun rise; or evidence of it rising at least, as the sky got lighter around the buildings that constantly surround me here in Chicago. After my sunrise activities, I napped until noon and then went outside for awhile.
I played soccer with an 8 year old boy who has one humorously conspicuous permanent tooth grown in in a gum line recently emptied of baby teeth. He told me that he knew how to drive a stick shift, but that he just wasn't tall enough to see over the steering well. He also told me that he knows 4 languages. I asked what they were. He told me he could speak French, Chinese, and English. Then he stopped to count and told me that he only knew 3 languages.
The disparity between this boy's abilities at the age of 8, and my abilities at the age of 8, are enough to make me question our being of the same species. I'm only 26, and I've already been left behind by evolution...
Regardless of my lack of conscious knowledge of it (which probably has to do with my inferiority to the capabilities of most children; me being a member of a receding species), I had a good Solstice, and I'm glad.

I'm not very fond anymore of most of the holidays celebrated in America. I grew up with Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentines Day, Thanksgiving, and a few others, but I've found that in recent years, even the last few that I found thrilling have been losing their glow.

Last Christmas, I noticed that the Winter Solstice was marked on my calendar. I questioned a few people as to it's meaning and then looked it up on the net. Least amount of daylight in the year (for my hemisphere) and the first day of winter. Oh... neat. It represents death, but also renewal, as the days get longer from that day forth. And it's governed by the rotation of the earth around the sun, not the relatively arbitrary date of the birth of an Important Person that may or may not be a fabrication of necessity, and whose birthdate may have also been politicked in order to better subjugate and assimilate a rival culture.
Screw that shit.
I'd rather mark my time with the planet and share that marking with countless cultures that have erupted and exploded on this globe since the history of man began.

These are my major holidays now: the two Solstices, the two Equinoxes, my birthday, and my Chicagoversary, August 1st, the day I arrived in Chicago.
I like declaring these holidays as my own. They give me something to hold onto and identify myself with when I'm feeling empty and detached from the rest of mankind. They can be cultural anchors for me, when I want them; however, I am finding that I am just as likely to ignore them as I am any of the other holidays, as evinced by "missing" the summer Solstice by three days.
In practice, a holiday is just another day to pick out of the distractions that constantly call for attention; one day is just as important as the next, really.