As far as I am concerned, this is the last day of summer. Even if the heat continues for a while, I will be in an autumn state of mind. Show me the pumpkins! It has been a long and very hot summer that has been almost totally lacking in rock and roll. Musically speaking this has been the slowest musical summer I have experienced since 1990. I haven't been on a road trip all summer! If it wasn't for the Police concert back in July, I would have no musical memories for this summer. Perhaps all my rock and roll heroes are feeling their age as I am. My only alternative is to watch a concert DVD, turn off the air conditioning in my house and sit in a beach chair in the middle of my living room floor.
Tomorrow begins the last long weekend of the summer. There are no more until Thanksgiving. It will be a weekend of family for me. Saturday my wife and I will spring her mother from the retirement home and take her out to dinner. My granddaughter, Chloe, will also be over on Saturday night for a sleepover. I will need to work out before she arrives to be prepared for the gymnastics that she will put me through. On Sunday afternoon I will attend a cookout at my parent's home with my brothers and sister, their spouses, and my nieces and nephews. I will also see my son, Nick, for the first time since he went to the seminary a few weeks ago. I don't think I have ever gone this long without seeing him. I am looking forward to the weekend in spite of it's busyness. The fatigue of the week has accumulated to a point where I need a break. I will get to sleep in on Saturday and wake up with Chloe on Sunday. Monday, however, will be my true day of rest. I will have nothing to do and no where to go and all day to get there.
In the spirit of Labor Day, I am grateful for my employment. Even though work can be maddening and frustrating at times, it has served me well and provided support for my family and me. Work at it's best should be a sharing of life's creative process. Work should serve people, not people serving work. Like everything else in life, work should be balanced. My great fear of work in this age is that it is consuming the lives of many. Sooner or later we need to get work back into it's proper perspective as a means to live and not as life itself. Work should be fulfilling and satisfying, not stressful and life draining. Give work it's proper due but do not let it consume your life. Don't find you identity in what you do. Find your identity in who you are. My job is not who I am. Who I am is Michael, Dad, Pa Paw, brother, son, and friend.
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