LABOR DAY

     Turn around twice and it’s fall already. I find the passing of time like the spindle’s shuttle, so quickly the hours and days roll into the past.  This summer has been filled with rain, drought and wild fire, flooding and more rain.  We are so wet in New Orleans that I’m afraid we are all going to grow web feet.  We have a canoe on a rack in the back yard.  I suggested maybe we should take it down and check to be sure it’s seaworthy. If the rain continues, we may need to use it.

 The last holiday of the summer will be this Monday.  Labor Day transports me to warm memories of past family picnics and community festivities.  Labor Day signals the end of summer and is celebrated on the first Monday of September.  The day is set aside to pay tribute to working men and women.  Labor organizers have celebrated the day since 1894 in the US and Canada. Early festivities included picnics and community gatherings usually organized by unions and company owners to celebrate solidarity in the work place.

Also, as I grew up, the first day of school always occurred on the day after Labor Day. Excited and anxious for a new year, we loved the last weekend of summer.  Always, the event meant new clothes and a new pair of shoes.  These were treasured items in the days of WWll rationing. As I became an adult and moved into the work force myself, the three day weekend usually became a special family time spent getting children ready for school.

 Labor Day also marks another dated habit of women of my generation.  On Memorial Day we begin to wear white shoes, carry white purses, and, in the old days, donned white hats and gloves. However, the stylish, fashionable lady removes the white items on Labor Day and stores them until next Memorial Day. I wonder how many still observe these habits from the past?

So I will wear my white shoes this Sunday, and then store them away until May.  At my age, I can’t help wondering if I will be here next May. With that unhappy thought, I will take my last pills of the evening and retire for the night to wake tomorrow with a happy heart ready to enjoy the last hooray of this summer 2016. I wish you a very pleasant end of summer also.