The first weekend in September is dedicated in the US to the workers, with Monday being designated as Labor Day and a federal holiday. It marks the unofficial end of sociological summer, as the beach or (if you’re from New Jersey) shore season transitions into autumn and the nation readies for the start of a new school year.
How many of us actually relax on a holiday weekend?
For those who adhere to the Sabbath, either Saturday or Sunday is a day off from working anyway, which pares the weekend down to its usual two days. Any projects you would normally undertake would be interrupted by one day in which you aren’t supposed to work. Monday is the official “last cookout day” of summer, when chicken, ribs, burgers and brats sing on the grill.
The children and young adults have started or will start school on Tuesday, many for only a half day, making the first week of education a three-and-a-half-day “why bother” chain of events in which everybody finds their classrooms, review the upcoming semester and then go out to pick up all the things which one actually needs for their course load but were not mentioned anyplace in the preliminary notification processes.
People will return home from vacation and realize that the cars they left in the garage–and delayed getting regular maintenance for–no longer function. The battery on one breathed its last after four years, and the tires on another were worn down until Lincoln on the penny would have the equivalent of two inches clearance in actual size. The auto dealerships and repair shops will have a mountain of work for themselves when they return from holiday.
Then there is the after-vacation ritual of laundry (if nobody destroyed or outgrew what they took with them for the summer) and food shopping. Don’t forget that little Madysyn is now vegan, and your son whose bedroom was decorated in everything dinosaur now wants to focus on a game console nook.
So the home is dusty, one car will be in the shop, the pets are out of necessities, and how are we going to pay for it all?
Overtime. On Tuesday morning.
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