May 11 is Mother's Day in the U.S. and May 26 is Memorial Day, also in the U.S. These are times to celebrate and honor life and death, each in our own way.

Monthly

ALS Awareness Month. May 1-31. National ALS Awareness Month, a month long series of activities geared to increase public awareness of ALS, raise funds for research and advocate for public policies that will benefit people with ALS. http://www.alsa.org/news/article.cfm?id=637

Fibromyalgia Education and Awareness Month. May 1–31. To publicize the symptoms and challenges of having fibromyalgia. For more information, go to http://www.fmaware.org/site/PageServer?pagename=community_awarenessDay

Get Caught Reading Month. May 1–31. To remind people of all ages of the joys of reading. For more information, visit www.getcaughtreading.org.

Healthy Vision Month. May 1–31. It is believed that half of all blindness can be prevented through routine checkups, yet the number of people in the US who suffer vision loss continues to increase. For more information go to http://www.healthyvision2010.nei.nih.gov/hvm/about.asp

National Hepatitis Month. May 1–31. To raise awareness of viral hepatitis and its prevention. For more information, go to www.HepatitisFoundation.org.

National Vinegar Month. May 1–31. To celebrate one of the home’s most versatile products. For ideas and advice, visit www.versatilevinegar.org. Also see Related Articles below.

Weekly

Be Kind To Animals Week. May 4–10. To promote kindness and humane care toward animals. For more information, go to http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ev_public_bkaw.

National Wildflower Week. May 5–11. To encourage the observation, cultivation, and study of wildflowers as a means of deepening humankind’s relationship to the ecological integrity of the Earth. For more information, visit www.wildflower.org.

National Nursing Home Week. May 11–17. To familiarize the public with long-term care facilities and the services they provide. For more information, go to www.ahcancal.org.

National Safe Boating Week. May 17–23. To bring boating safety to the public’s attention. For more information, go to www.safeboatingcouncil.org.

National Dog Bite Prevention Week. May 18–24. To promote safety with dogs—especially among children, who are the number one victims of dog bites. For more information, visit www.nahee.org.

Daily

Melanoma Day. May 5. Also known as National Skin Self-Examination Day. To encourage people to examine their skin for cancer. For more information, go to www.aad.org.

World Red Cross Day. May 8. To recognize the humanitarian work of the Red Cross. For more information, visit www.redcross.org.

Mother’s Day. May 11. First observed in 1907 at the request of Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, Pa., who asked her church to hold a service in memory of all mothers on the anniversary of her own mother’s death. Congress passed legislation in 1914 designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Limerick Day. May 12. To celebrate the limerick and one of its greatest champions, Edward Lear, born May 12, 1812, Highgate, England. [Lear] died January 29, 1888, San Remo, Italy. English landscape painter who is more widely known as the writer of an original kind of nonsense verse and as the popularizer of the limerick. Source: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/333953/Edward-Lear

International Museum Day. May 18. To pay tribute to the museums of the world. For more information, go to http://icom.museum/imd.html

Memorial Day. May 26. To honor those who have died in battle. Also known as Decoration Day because of the tradition of decorating the graves of service people. For more information, go to http://www1.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/history.asp#hist