June 9.

Years ago, my BFF Lena coined June 9th as Martha G Appreciation Day, for no other reason than knowing the sexual innuendo would inevitably exacerbate the awkwardness we already know we radiate back into the world. 

Just to clarify: we’ve really leaned into owning awkward as part of our personal brand identity. Like, when people say, “It’s only awkward if you make it awkward…” it usually just tempts us to make it even more awkward than where it began. 

I think we don’t always give enough credit to the arbitrary and the potential it holds. June 9th was completely insignificant for most of my life — until this random date was slapped into my world as an annual recurrence (without consent, mind you). It became a date that might always age well, even if the emotions of the day don’t. 

So while this post is to be continued, I’m writing this with the goal of holding myself more accountable to lean into the underrated potential that the arbitrary can bring… a promise to flirt a little harder with the beauty behind the arbitrary. With the nonsense that becomes ritual. With the random moments and dumb jokes that, in hindsight, might actually be the ones that reroute your entire life. 

Because if there’s one thing June 9th has taught me, it’s this: keep the people who bring out your unhinged. The ones who double down on the bit. Who see awkward joy as art.

And finally, here’s to June 9th — the date that somehow turned a sex position into an annual holiday where people feel compelled to profess their love for me, and where another BFF slipped into my life on the same day. Because that date was somehow always meant to bring a little more good — and a lot more chaos — into the mix.