''Why is it that we are always told to remember the terrible stuff, and never anything wonderful?'' Aunt Dee challenged me on our most recent phone call. ''We are told to remember the Maine, and the Alamo, and never to forget the Holocaust, but we are never reminded of the happy and useful things that have happened.''

''To which useful and happy things are you referring?'' I asked.

''That's just it, It's hard to remember the nice happenings, because we are never reminded of them. Maybe such a time as the day Edison invented the telephone.''

''Bell,'' I murmured.

''Yes, the bell and the whole system,'' Aunt Dee agreed, not knowing what it was she was agreeing to. ''And the invention of the microwave; that was a terrific idea, but no one seems to know who did it.''

''I think it was Schopenhauer who said there are no good events, only relief from bad ones,'' I said.

''Schopenhauer was a dope,'' she responded. ''Of course there are good events. How about the day I met my Raphael? Everybody should celebrate the days they met the most important people in their lives. We could call it Happy Day, and it ought to be on December 31, so we could add up all the good days that year and remember them.''

''That's not a bad idea.'' I said.

''Or even better, we should celebrate every day. A day without celebrating is a day wasted. From now on I am going to eat a big slice of layer cake every day to celebrate all the good things. You are invited to come any time you wish.''

I was really tempted to jump on a plane and celebrate with Aunt Dee. She was right: the bad things are too easy to remember.