So summer ends with a nap

Today, September 4th, we celebrate Labor Day in the United States. Ostensibly, it is the day we honor the American labor movement and their contributions by taking the day off. We celebrate the day by making a whole group of American workers, who are largely underpaid and under appreciated, work so that we can redeem coupons for stuff we probably don't need, like linens, toasters, paint, and yet another HDTV. Is there any better way to thank an American worker than to brave a long line of people at their register, so you can yell at them for not taking that crumpled expired coupon you found under the driver's seat of your car? Because 5% off. Yea, Labor Day sales!

In addition to celebrating America's labor movement, the Labor Day weekend also signals the unofficial end of summer. This summer has sped by as quickly as the Megalomaniac in Chief's approval ratings have sunk. I didn't take a lot of time off this summer and you'd think that would have made it creep by, but it didn't. The summer weather we had here was pleasant, with hardly any weird overly hot days. So it's not like a dreary heat made the days go by slowly. To be sure, we stayed busy, opening the summer season with visits from our children and ending it by visiting them behind the Zion Curtain. It just seems like we blinked and the summer was over.

The last couple of days have brought a relative chill to the night air and we find ourselves looking to what looms ahead on the fall calendar. There is the not insignificant business of an October wedding awaiting us. Fortunately, as the parents of the groom, most of what we had to do for it has come together, thanks to the formidable and slightly terrifying Wedding-Industrial Complex that is Utah County, UT. I could go on for days about that but that's another post for another day, but I'll just say this, these wedding people are wasted in what they're doing now. Send them to North Korea and they'll wear Kim Jung-Un down to nothing in no time with their blindingly white smiles, matching black outfits, and eternal perkiness. He'll give up his nuclear weapons in no time, I'm telling you right now.

So with summer essentially over, I'm not going to indulge in the Labor Day sales shenanigans. I think I'm going to go back to bed. A nap seems like a fitting way to celebrate the day.

Take a nap today, my friends. You won't regret it.

Laboring back to reality

Today is Labor Day, where America pauses to remember the social and economic achievements of American workers by shopping linen and bath sales and yelling at those workers who had to work a holiday. Nothing says "thank you" like chewing out someone who is barely earning more than minimum wage because your Bed Bath and Beyond coupon expired in 2013 and you can't begin to understand why you can't use it for a hand soap dispenser whose shape reminds you of your beloved and deceased Vietnamese Pot Belly Pig, Petunia. As much as I'd like to say I saw that very exchange go down today, I have to admit I did not. You know, however, as well as I do, that something very similar went down today.

It is also the traditional signal that summer is drawing to a close. If children haven't returned to school yet, tomorrow is the big day. For most, this is the last "holiday" before Thanksgiving, and so it is 'game on.' It is time to get back to work, and that leaves many of us, myself included, realizing that reality does indeed bite.

My hiatus is officially over this evening. It's back to work tomorrow. It has been a great two weeks. One week was filled to the brim (even overflowing) with family and the joy those long-awaited reunions bring. The second week was nothing but time for the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and me. Aside from one awful two hour "What to do on the island of Sint Maarten" brainwashing seminar (think of the worst timeshare presentation you've ever been roped into, combined with a crowd of people demanding how to get the best deal on knock off jewelry, while trapped in a darkened room at sea) attended by SML, who was able to escape unscathed, we were not apart for the last week. We had an amazing time together and I'll post more about it later this week. Right now, though, no time as I'm dealing with getting back to reality.

Hundreds of work emails.
Personal emails.
Things to do around the house.
The finale of "The Great British Baking Show."

All important things, people. It's back to reality. Here we go.

Labor

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Let's talk briefly about labor. Not the labor associated with Labor Day, rather the labor that precedes the birth of a baby.

My firstborn, Our Lady of Awesome, is due to deliver her second baby in the next few days. The stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and I will become grandparents for the second time. Suffice to say, we are excited. SML has already made her way to the Zion Curtain and will be there when the baby arrives.

It seems only appropriate that mother and daughter are together during this most momentous event. To call it a shared experience seems like a bit of an understatement. I remember being at my wife's side as she went into labor at the Utah Valley Regional Birthing Bonanza for the first time when she delivered our first-born daughter. I had never seen such strength (it put any moment of male strength to shame), nor had I seen such immediate radiant love the moment that little girl was placed in her arms. That moment confirmed what kind of a mother she would be and I knew she would be there for her daughter and the other children that would come and she has been. She'll be there to share some of that strength she mustered all those years ago when she labored to deliver the daughter she'll be supporting in just a couple of days. They will share that strength.

"There is a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful.

It's that women are strong." - Laura Stavoe Harm

That strength is amazing. It is inspiring. It binds mother and child. It is love. It is incredible.

Laboring as a missionary

"Stop making that face or it will stay that way." So says his mother.

Today is Labor Day, a day that celebrates the contributions of workers to improve the country and themselves. Let me just say right now we are not going to plunge into a discussion of what unions have done to the American workplace, so Mittites, calm down. This is not what this is about at all.

Rather, it's about TMFKATB as he labors behind the Zion Curtain today in the mission field. It's his P-Day, or day off, so like the rest of the country, he gets to rest from his labors for at least part of the day today. His weekly letter brought not a lot in terms of news. It's transfers this week and his companion is heading home, having completed his two years of service, so we thought we'd hear of his new assignment or a new companion but nothing yet. He might send an update at the end of his P-day later today.

He's nearly at his year mark or halfway point of his two-year service. He doesn't seem to be counting. Instead, his letters, and today's was no different, reflect a focus on what he's doing and the people he's serving. He had a bunch of questions for me about my trip last week to Mexico City. He loves the people of that country. Amazing what an impact those eight months living and serving there had on him. If he has it his way, we'll be heading down there when he gets back. There are a lot worse things you could do than hang out with your son south of the border, eating tacos and taking it all in from his perspective.

I hope by then I will have regained my cast iron stomach. It was a thing of legend and has served me well, allowing me to savor the flavors of the world, literally, with nary a care for, oh I don't know, things like cleanliness or what the meat I was ingesting really was. Dog? Pigeon? It really didn't matter. Well, apparently now that I am solidly middle aged, that stomach has thrown in the towel. Suffice to say, things have not been pretty since I got back from Mexico City. I blame the removal of my gall bladder last year, which is stupid, since it's a useless organ that you don't need. So, I have just over a year to pull it together and get my stomach back to fighting condition. This is going to be fun.