Sunday, September 6, 2009

Ode to Labor Day

As many of you know I have for years (well since 1997 anyway) kept a book of quotes and poems and ads and articles that I thought were interesting or funny or thought provoking. A few years ago an editorial ran in the New York Times that has stuck with me and I think would have even if I hadn't written it down. I don't know who wrote it, but it is below. May this year will be the year.

New York Times editorial
September 4, 2006

So August was busier then you meant it to be and September is already overbooked and spilling into October.

It's not too early to buy plane tickets home for Thanksgiving and whose turn is it to have Christmas anyway?

Meanwhile there is today, Labor Day. It isn't much except of course, that it's everything.

Perhaps this will be the Monday that refuses to admit the existence of Tuesday.

This City

So things have been hectic - work is busy and learning to wake up at 5am is a hard lesson at my age! The city is in full swing however. Mid-summer Mardi Gras was last weekend and let me just say if it is any indication of what we are in for in February best to strap in now and start looking for a costume...or at least some body paint and glitter as that seems to be the costume of choice.

This weekend is Summer Decadence which is basically the gay Mardi Gras which would have been cooler to experience if I had known that was going on. Instead I just spent most of yesterday afternoon being confused about the number of shirtless men in assless chaps. It's always something in this town I tell you.

Time is moving faster now, with each day marked with the sound of my heals walking down the metal ramp of the Middle School's trailer on my way to the cafeteria to oversee 200 6th and 7th graders eat eggs and tator tots and some sort of weird biscuit with meat cooked inside. The sun has only been up for an hour or so and the morning air is starting to feel cool. The summer feels like eons ago and as another Labor Day passes by I am filled with regret for all the days and months I wished away. For all the time I wasted. Not anymore.