As a matter of fact, I've been called on to work over the weekend, so I don't think I'm going to be enjoying it much myself. If I were getting time and a half or double time, I suppose I wouldn't mind so much. Ah, well, the life of the freelance editor...
Of course, in my first blush of youth it wasn't just school that started after Labor Day weekend. Everything started. The three networks -- and I suppose PBS, if you were some damn hippie -- began all their new shows, and there were new episodes of returning series. There was none of this staggered start stuff, where a few would begin in October and maybe even later. Hell, the least popular shows would be gone by Halloween.
New cars also appeared like magic, September being (at least to my kid eyes, seeing car commercials) when every car manufacturer released its new automobiles for the model year. That too no longer appears to be a hard and fast rule. Some come out earlier, some in the spring... was it always like this?
In a way, Labor Day was New Year's II: The Sequel, and in some ways even better. For a student, you were mired in the school year on January 1, so there was no point in vowing to do better. When you started a new grade in September, that's when you would be vowing to do better. Of course, like a bad TV show, that vow would also be gone by Halloween.
Another way Labor Day was better than New Year's was the weather. Coming off the summer heat and humidity in New York was almost like being released from a jail made of hot Jell-O. The very molecules of your body seemed to be free to move again, and move fast, especially if your back-to-school wardrobe included cool new sneakers.
And there were no new Saturday morning cartoons on New Year's Day.
Maybe the best part of Labor Day for a kid is that you have all the best holidays coming up in the next few months -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. At New Year's, they're all behind you, and you face a long slog just to get to adult-type holidays (MLK Day, Presidents Day, Valentine's [yuck!] Day)....
I'm glad that the actual calendar year starts in January for other reasons, but Labor Day is an excellent time to take stock and get busy. And isn't that what fresh starts are all about?
3 comments:
I stayed up late and watched the stars come out.
I normally stay home on Big Holiday Weekends, as the crush of traffic (both ground and airborne) takes all the fun out of it for me. Tomorrow, though, a nephew is getting married, so it'll be 6+ hours on Interstate 81 to get there and back. This road has beautiful scenery (it's in the Shenandoah Valley), but it seems about 50% of the traffic are enormous tandem semis driven by maniacs all hopped up on goofballs, and the other 50% is people texting while driving. What do they text? "Run over by semi! LOL!" It's a death trap, a suicide rap!
FM: Oh, Jerry! How we miss ya!
Mongo: Safe trip! Sounds like all the traffic safety developments of the last 75 years can't keep pace with human stupidity. Be careful! And remember, avoid the Chicken Dance!
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