National Make-A-Mends Day

Daily writing prompt

Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

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When I saw today’s prompt asking to invent a holiday, the answer came to me instantly. I’d call it National Make-A-Mends Day. Not a day for parties, or flags, or fireworks—but a day for facing the things we’ve left undone. The words we never said, the calls we never made, the people we let slip away. A day for doing something about it.

We all carry regrets around like loose change in our pockets. Some rattle a little louder than others. Maybe it was a friendship that fell apart, a family member you stopped calling, or someone you hurt with words that still echo in your mind. On Make-A-Mends Day, you don’t just remember them—you act. You pick one person, reach out, and try to make it right.

But here’s where it goes beyond words. If you’re a person of means and they’re not, make it right in more than one way. Cover that old debt, replace what you once damaged, or send a gift that says you really mean it. Maybe it’s flowers and coffee left on a porch, or helping someone with a problem they can’t solve alone. Money and time are both powerful, but time—time is the one that tells people you actually care.

There’s something humbling about walking up to someone’s door, heart racing, unsure how they’ll react. That moment before you knock says it all. It’s courage meeting vulnerability head-on. It’s saying, “I’ve thought about you,” without having to rehearse the perfect line.

If we all took one day a year to do that—to mend fences, apologize, or simply show up—I think we’d be a softer, stronger country. Fewer grudges, more grace. Less talking about unity, more living it.

I don’t mean this as some lofty idea for others to do. I’m declaring it for myself. Today is National Make-A-Mends Day.

I’m going to make a call I should have made years ago. Maybe drop by someone’s house and say what’s been sitting on my heart for too long. Life’s too short to keep carrying unfinished business. The older I get, the more I realize that making peace with others is just another way of making peace with yourself.

So here’s to second chances, humble apologies, and showing up with both hands open. Let this be the day we turn “I should have” into “I did.”