Labor Day…Happy New Year?
I was talking with a friend today who posed an interesting question. She said, “Ah, Labor Day, just like New Years.” I must have had a puzzled tone in my voice so she explained. “Don’t you remember that Labor Day was really like New Year’s Day when you were a kid and going back to school? Didn’t it signify the end of summer and the beginning of something new?”. Excellent point. She’s right. Labor Day is the start of a new era. The end of care free summer and the beginning of school days, responsibility, joyous holidays and family celebrations. In fact, I was swimming with a friend’s nine year old son the other day and he kept asking me if I wanted to hear what he had sent to Santa on his Christmas list. “Pierce!”, I said, “Your killing me, we’re swimming in the pool and all you can think about is Christmas and school hasn’t even started?”. I guess for him, Labor Day is certainly the start of a new era…the count down to St. Nick.
So, working moms, how delightful, an opportunity for a rebirth…and one that you weren’t even expecting at that. Now, what will you do with it? What’s laying around that you need to deal with, clean up, reinvent, put to bed, step up to, etc? I’ve been in the mode to stepping up to my issues for the past several months. It sure has been draining and painful but also rewarding beyond compare. Can I help you be courageous to put your toe in the water just a little? No risk, no reward right? Whether you need to reengineer your career, work on a family relationship, improve communication with your husband or your kids, work on self image or just plain get to know yourself again…you’ve been served up permission in the form of Labor Day (aka New Years). Again, I ask you, What WILL you do with it?
The day after Labor Day has always been much more like New Year’s than Jan 1st for me. I think it’s all those years of school (10 years of college plus K-12).
My work pile left from summer is large but I’m also trying to think about my “New Year’s Resolutions”.
Our only child started Kindergarten today so it’s a bittersweet day for us. Both of us work from home so we will really miss her. I’m thinking of a children’s book to create called, “Daddy’s Longest Day” about a little girl starting Kindergarten.
~ Amy
I also have two little ones starting their first day of preschool today. So this is a particularly big day for new beginnings for all of us. I am focusing on the gifts and opportunities that this new change will bring.
Amy
On Twitter @amymiyamoto
I agree that going back to school brings about fresh thoughts of routine, fall schedules, sports, holidays, and family celebrations. My son started 1st grade today and it felt good to see him bravely march into his class. Quiet courage.
My daughter begins 5 day pre-k on Thursday. It will be somewhat lonely during the day to have both away. But I am looking forward to focusing on my work, my health, and my home. Such a warm time of year!
In the cozy position I’m in as a school employee, Labor Day feels very much like the end of Summer for me–I’m squarely in the childrens’ camp on this issue, scuffing my shoes resentfully as I put on long pants for the first time in months.
Sometimes I think I could benefit from watching a time-lapse film of my office, from my vantage point; how the year begins with familiar reminders–calendars marked with dates, upcoming holidays, et al, projects I want to get to are strewn everywhere–and quickly evolves (or devolves) into goals met, unmet, calendar pages in the trash.
And somewhere off-camera is me, singing REM’s “Don’t go back to Rockville (and waste another year)” either as a heroic anthem or a mournful dirge.
I have always loved the day after Labor Day for exactly this reason. It’s a time for me to refocus, reprioritize and finish the year off with a bang. At least that is how I felt this morning when I got up at 5 a.m., worked out, got my oil changed and did everything else that piled up this summer (because I certainly was not getting up at 5 a.m.). It’s just a time when I always feel rejuvinated. Now hopefully I can carry this pizazz through the end up the year and not hit the snooze button!
Hey everyone, it’s Labor Day! I’m enjoying my extra day off, and I am planning to make something fun that’ll probably involve a moto trip and seeing something new in Centereach I haven’t seen yet.
You write new post on a Monday at the labor day? … haPpY BloGgING!