This is a little tradition of my own, Labor Day is my favorite holiday for reasons I have written about in the past and I like to take a few moments and reflect about things.
This year is especially relevant for me personally as I will be starting a new position the next day and this follows, for the first time in my life since leaving college, a break from being steadily employed.
I started work at my first job when I was 15 and kept working or being in school or doing both until... well actually until about this February when I am quite a bit older than 15.
My oldest son turns 15 in a few weeks.
In those years I've worked Fast Food, Retail, Temp Agency, Tech Support, Army, Drug Rehab, Community Support, Firefighter, BodyGuard, Accountant and other stuff I am sure I have forgotten about. Eventually in 2015 I returned to Kansas City and worked for the Geo Group full time in an office and it was.... steady. In February I could no longer work for them in good faith. The comapany is ultimately about imprisoning/monitoring people for profit - and to that end - pushing the levers of power for more people to be imprisoned or under some legal monitoring. It took me a while to see it, but they would lock up the whole world if they could (even faster than we are locking up ourselves).
I had to move on, and am blessed with family who supported my decision. I took a short contract doing accounting work for a financial advisory, then supporting technology for a local tech consulting firm, but between gigs I had some downtime where I.... lived.
I helped my older boy with study habits and taught him about respecting women (he has his first girlfriend) and living a life beyond playing video games and it was great.
We swam and caught crawfish and threw the football and flew our drones and watched meteor showers. We cleared brush with a chainsaw and my son keeps making me a little more proud with what he can do each day.
I spent many, many, many hours with my younger son. We swam and built with legos and spelled words with blocks and explored the woods and made little worlds with cars and action figures, drew maps of streams, watched the airplanes take off the runway, grew tomatoes and squash (he liked to water them each day and observe that little bit of growth) and it was great.
I spent every Sunday with my Dad doing the kind of things that a bedridden man needs done and some of it was alright. We watched a Brad Pitt movie where he is a tank commander, like my father was, in Germany, like my father was, in the same kind of Sherman tank my father commanded... it was nice for him. We watched an Italian Opera on PBS and, for a moment I remembered the open and witty guy my father used to be.
I kept things well enought with the rental property (fingers crossed) and sold some land for my Dad so he will have funds for when he inevitably needs invalid care.
I got to go on a road trip with my wife and kids and swim in the ocean and eat cajun food and look out over the Oklahoma hills and so on. I got to take care of my boys and let my wife take a cruise and have some time alone for the first time since she has given birth to the oldest boy.
I got to LIVE. I've always had such a work ethic that most of my travel has been for work, most of my learning has been for work, my clothes and so on... it was nice, really really nice, NOT having an inbox or firetruck to restock or weapon to clean waiting for me.
The Summer came to an end. My son is back in school, my little guy is in Pre-K, I'm going back to work, but maybe I am a better man if I work to live a little more and live to work a little less. I'll still do any job to the best of my abilities and take pride in what I do... but I what I do includes being a father, a husband, a son, and a human being.
Happy Labor Day.
This year is especially relevant for me personally as I will be starting a new position the next day and this follows, for the first time in my life since leaving college, a break from being steadily employed.
I started work at my first job when I was 15 and kept working or being in school or doing both until... well actually until about this February when I am quite a bit older than 15.
My oldest son turns 15 in a few weeks.
In those years I've worked Fast Food, Retail, Temp Agency, Tech Support, Army, Drug Rehab, Community Support, Firefighter, BodyGuard, Accountant and other stuff I am sure I have forgotten about. Eventually in 2015 I returned to Kansas City and worked for the Geo Group full time in an office and it was.... steady. In February I could no longer work for them in good faith. The comapany is ultimately about imprisoning/monitoring people for profit - and to that end - pushing the levers of power for more people to be imprisoned or under some legal monitoring. It took me a while to see it, but they would lock up the whole world if they could (even faster than we are locking up ourselves).
I had to move on, and am blessed with family who supported my decision. I took a short contract doing accounting work for a financial advisory, then supporting technology for a local tech consulting firm, but between gigs I had some downtime where I.... lived.
I helped my older boy with study habits and taught him about respecting women (he has his first girlfriend) and living a life beyond playing video games and it was great.
We swam and caught crawfish and threw the football and flew our drones and watched meteor showers. We cleared brush with a chainsaw and my son keeps making me a little more proud with what he can do each day.
I spent many, many, many hours with my younger son. We swam and built with legos and spelled words with blocks and explored the woods and made little worlds with cars and action figures, drew maps of streams, watched the airplanes take off the runway, grew tomatoes and squash (he liked to water them each day and observe that little bit of growth) and it was great.
I spent every Sunday with my Dad doing the kind of things that a bedridden man needs done and some of it was alright. We watched a Brad Pitt movie where he is a tank commander, like my father was, in Germany, like my father was, in the same kind of Sherman tank my father commanded... it was nice for him. We watched an Italian Opera on PBS and, for a moment I remembered the open and witty guy my father used to be.
I kept things well enought with the rental property (fingers crossed) and sold some land for my Dad so he will have funds for when he inevitably needs invalid care.
I got to go on a road trip with my wife and kids and swim in the ocean and eat cajun food and look out over the Oklahoma hills and so on. I got to take care of my boys and let my wife take a cruise and have some time alone for the first time since she has given birth to the oldest boy.
I got to LIVE. I've always had such a work ethic that most of my travel has been for work, most of my learning has been for work, my clothes and so on... it was nice, really really nice, NOT having an inbox or firetruck to restock or weapon to clean waiting for me.
The Summer came to an end. My son is back in school, my little guy is in Pre-K, I'm going back to work, but maybe I am a better man if I work to live a little more and live to work a little less. I'll still do any job to the best of my abilities and take pride in what I do... but I what I do includes being a father, a husband, a son, and a human being.
Happy Labor Day.
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