Time for a day off

It’s Labor Day; time to take a day off from work! Wouldn’t it be nice if everything could just close for the day and workers could spend some extra time with the family, or just sleep in late for one extra day? In a fantasy world perhaps that might happen, but in the real world, retail stores must have their Labor Day sales, restaurants need to feed families who were lucky enough to have the day off, cars sales need to be processed, the ill need tending to, police need to patrol, emergency personnel need to be ready to jump into action, and to those who seem the most deserving of not having to work on Labor Day… the farm worker.

In the heat, in the rain, the farm worker spends hours harvesting the fruits and vegetables we use for our salads, smoothies, entrees, sandwiches, and so much more. Just think of what you ate today? What would your meals look like If you had to go out and pick your produce from the fields?  Would your burger dwindle down to just bread and meat? Gone would be the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, pickles, even ketchup (need those tomatoes). There would be no potato salad, Meals would become so bland.

My family on both my mom and dad sides worked in the fields, harvesting a variety of produce, some harvested cotton and I remember my mom working in a nursery, preparing flowers. She would tell me how her and her siblings would go pick strawberries. It wasn’t just during the summer, it was year round. When my mom, aunts and uncles were in high school, they would go pick before and after school. It was a family of eight kids, so it was something which had to be done to make ends meet. 

They knew the value of hard work. I believe it’s something which is being lost on today’s youth, which take so many things for granted. I saw how hard my mom worked. She became a single mom before my brother and I were out of grade school. At times she worked two or three jobs, to keep us in the better side of the city. She was a great example of working hard, and stretching dollars by finding treasures in thrift stores and clearance aisles, and making time to also enjoy life.

As for myself, I did not work today, not because it was a holiday, but because it was my regular day off. I did my laundry, straighten up the apartment, and did some grocery shopping.  I didn’t get that 3 day weekend some people looked forward to enjoying. I’ll go back tomorrow for another normal work week. So to those who were able to get today off with pay, I hope you enjoyed the time with family and friends. My brother and I did get a treat from back home, when we picked up our order of pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread). 😀