Today is Presidents Day in the United States; this is the common name for the federal bank holiday officially designated as George Washington's Birthday. George’s actual birthday is February 22, 1732 but Presidents Day is the Third Monday in February. I like Presidents Day not because everyone gets a day off (although that is part of its allure) but because I just really like George Washington. Seriously! I have photographic evidence. I have George’s framed pic and autograph in my hallway so I can see him everyday.

When the new George Washington gold dollar coin came out, I was so excited I turned it into a necklace, so I could wear it everywhere.

This is the mug I am drinking Earl Grey tea out of right now (oh the irony).

I like George so much I even have the George Washington Barbie.

Yes, Drama and George sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G (hopefully not a cherry tree). George is fab because he led the Revolutionary Army against Britain and created America, he was the first president of the new United States, and he created the national bank. So thanks George!

As if making a country wasn’t cool enough, I’ve created a top three list of why we should all LOVE George Washington!

-he was the first famous blogger (eat your heart out Perez Hilton). When George was 21 and first started in the army he was sent 500 miles to carry a British ultimatum to the French to vacate the Ohio frontier. The ultimatum went unheeded, but Washington’s account of being shot at by Native Americans and walking 100 miles on foot in the rain caused him to become the first pre-American popular journal writer (blog writer). Sure they didn’t have the internet back then, so it wasn’t REALLY blogging, but his journal was published and widely read all over the world.

-George was a feminist. Back in his day they didn’t have the word feminist, but George was down with the ladies. He called his wife Martha his “partner” in running Mount Vernon, his enormous plantation. When his wife was criticized for not bearing him children, back then blaming the woman for infertility was the norm, he calmly explained that it was his fault because he was sterile and pointed out the two children Martha bore from her first dead husband. He also claimed openly that his favourite child was his adopted daughter “patsy” instead of his adopted son. When she died at age 16, he said it was the worse thing that ever happened to him (this coming from a man who fought in 3 wars).

- George was an all around good guy and pretty darn forward-thinking for his time. He was the only slaveholding Founding Father to emancipate his slaves in his will (this is WAY before the American civil war over slavery). He was also an early supporter of religious toleration in the United States. Even though the state religion was Church of England, he ordered that his troops not show anti-Catholic sentiments by burning the pope in effigy on Guy Fawkes Night. When hiring workmen for Mount Vernon, he wrote, "If they be good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be Mohammedans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists." In 1790, he wrote a response to a letter from the Touro Synagogue, in which he said that as long as people remain good citizens, their faith does not matter.

So happy President’s Day everyone! As you have a lie-in today, remember that you owe it all to George Washington, First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen…The only dude that could create a country and be humorously self-deprecating while blogging it.

Go Georgie it’s your birthday…

~taste the rainbow~