Tuesday will be difficult. The morning after a three-day weekend is always hectic, but after Labor Day everything either seems wrong or about to go that way. People returning from vacation find that the batteries in the cars they left home are dead, the tires are deflated, somebody forgot to run the laundry they wore before the family left, the milk in the fridge is a science experiment, the fish ate the vacation food and died, and life ramps up again in less than 24-48 hours, depending on when school or work starts again in your neighborhood.
Delaware schools started already, so lord love you, you escaped the carnage.
But some people didn’t take vacation. I didn’t, for reasons I won’t go into here. Some people are obligated to taking care of things while the rest of the world suns itself on scratchy sandy beaches and complains about biting flies, ocean pollution and the shark problems. Places still catch fire and need volunteers to put them out, and the sick and those about to deliver babies still need assistance, and public service does not shut down for anything. If there is a holiday, it just pushes everything back or doubles up the work for the next day.
Some people dread going back to work or school, because it’s more of the same abuse they get at home. That isn’t right in a country like ours, but it happens. You could be sharing a residential block with somebody who is being held hostage, abused or neglected. You could go into work Tuesday morning and the guy in the suit could be a prime candidate to be registered as a criminal, but he does his job the same as you. Kids bully other kids, but the bullied kids are probably abused at home, as are the bullies.
We consider summer a respite from regular life, but it’s hell cranked up a notch for some folks, and we turn away from it because we want to have fun.
Blood supplies go down in summer because people go away and don’t consider visiting a blood bank at the shore. The supplies then go down in autumn because we come home and infect each other and can’t donate while we’re sick.
Summer is not an excuse for irresponsibility, but a call to remember to be responsible. That way there are no surprises and no chaos when nobody is open on Sunday or Labor Day, and therefore no bad Tuesday after.
And did you go check those batteries and tires yet?
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