How did it happen? Really. How is it that it is already June?  And, it is not only June but its past June 15. Don’t you ask yourself that question every June? Did you know that a few days ago, June 18, was International Panic Day?  I do not know how one observes such a day other than by panicking at the thought of June being nearly over.  Well, nonetheless, here we are in the middle of June, the sixth month of the year. There are 30 days in June, a rarity, in that most months have 31 days. Although, I must say that, thirty seems like a nice and round number of days to go through.   Yet, we tend to approach the month of June not feeling quite prepared for the year to be halfway over. How did we get from New Year’s Eve to now?

It seems that the years are just going by faster and faster. The first five months are all but a fuzzy recollection at this point. Luckily we have social media now so that we can go back and look at what we were doing on any given day. Or do we?  Will I ever revisit that moment in time when I tweeted on January 23 at 10am in which I lamented my state of misery? Will I ever look back at that tweet to remind me of how that was absolutely the coldest day in New York City (13 degrees) I had experienced in years? And, although I was sick with the Norovirus I still had to get up and host a community forum.  My shoes, that were so kick-ass, saved me that day.  Does anyone go through their twitter archive? Is that moment now just a 140-character sentiment living in perpetuity in cyber space?

June, in itself, is a tricky month. June is the month with both the longest daylight hours in a single day in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.  Again, June is tricky, because there are two sides to June. Did you know that Gemini is one of its zodiac signs whose name is Latin for “twins” (associated with the twins Castor & Pollux in Greek mythology). We will get back to that concept in a second.

As dreaded June may be because of what it represents in terms of the calendar year, its arrival is often highly anticipated.  It is the end of school year for students and the beginning of vacation time for those lucky enough to have accumulated time and the ability to leave without a grant hanging over their head.  This, alone, would make it popular. But June is also the month when trees and flowers are at their most beautiful and bountiful. Nature is at its wonderful peak at this time. And probably pollen allergies are driving many insane as a result.  How many people do you recall seeing sneezing up a storm or rubbing their red eyes? June’s birth flowers are the honeysuckle and the rose.  Roses can be beautiful but they are prickly.  And therein lies that sense of duality that marks the month of June.  While June is a time for weddings, did you know that suicide rates also peak in the month of June? And, while weddings can be great blessing (personally I prefer eloping), it can also bring out the beastly side of the bride and groom: we have all heard the term “bridezilla.”  That Gemini sign, that twin aspect, appears to signal that you will see the duality of situations as well of people.  Oftentimes, when I walk the city streets of New York, I hum one of my favorite Smiths’ songs:

Panic on the streets of London

Panic on the streets of Birmingham

I wonder to myself

Could life ever be sane again?

Indeed, after going through the month of June we can oftentimes feel like we are losing our minds.

On June 19, 1885, our great Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor from France and decades later on June 4, 1919, Congress, by joint resolution, approved the woman’s suffrage amendment.  As you can see, great acts of freedom have occurred in the month of June. Yet we also had oddities and literal witch hunts. In June of 1692, the people of Salem, Massachusetts hanged their first “witch.”  June is indeed a tricky month.

Did you know that June is national fresh fruits and vegetables month; yet it is also candy month?   Oh, and let us not forget that we celebrate National Doughnut day on the first Friday of June.   How are people expected to be ready for the beach?  You are supposed to hit the gym and then the beach. Yet, you are to also consume tons of sugars and fats. Appropriately enough, June 8^th was “Name your Poison Day.”  And, in case you exhibited a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde persona during this past month, June 26 is National Forgiveness Day.

June’s birthstone is the pearl; which is produced from mollusks. But June also has an alternate birthstone. This is the moonstone which has a bright sheen which has been compared to the radiance of the moonlight.  Hence, its name.  A pearl can look soft and dainty; while a moonstone is edgy and shiny. The pearl and the moonstone-two sides to your June Persona?