Friday, August 30, 2013

The BIG holiday weekend is upon us!



This is one of those BIG three day holiday weekends, and in the case of us here in the United States of America, it is called Labor Day Weekend.
Now even that name is a misnomer, how might one have a ‘day’ that is also a ‘weekend’, one might ask?

Not me, since I have always known that this was called Labor Day Weekend at least since I was a small child anxiously looking forward to my first day of school, which in New Jersey always started the day after the holiday ended, on Tuesday!
“Observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events.”

Ending our long summer, in those days to us they were three months long…and just before it was time to go back meant new school clothes and notebooks and pencil holders and gosh everything that was needed had to be brand new, because the school year was brand new too!

Although…ramp up thirty plus years later from my first day of school and our children’s first day of school in FLORIDA, in 1986 when we moved to the other coast to Ormond Beach, on August 19th we felt the urge to get here as soon as possible due to being misinformed that they would be starting school in August!
Ridiculous!

And for that one year, oddly enough, they too started the day after Labor Day, but that was the last time that happened to our then ten and fourteen year old sons.
For after that first year, when it appeared that they waited for us to settle in, we closed on that first house in less than a week, we had to look for a home since we hadn’t before we moved down here looked and so it was a bit of a rush anyway…but from that year after the boys were to start every year in the middle of August, but all schools are air-conditioned here and that allowed for them to get out in May, which they both liked. Even though it was still the same one hundred and eighty days that all United States schools require, odd how August to May sounds psychologically different than September to June?
Who knows why that is?

You see, we were on a rather odd adventure when we moved from New Jersey; we had sold everything, our big five bedroom bi-level and our underground sprinkle business and even most all of our furniture, we were due for new anyway…and so we had, us, Hubby and I and the boys, a dog, a cat and a cockatiel as well as a box turtle, and surprise our idea of renting a place to take our time to decide exactly what we wanted to do… was expedited due to no one wanting to rent to us with our children and our animal menagerie!
We knew the area well, since we had been to Ormond Beach many times before on vacation via our trips to Disney World with our boys and knew they had excellent schools that were not unlike the ones we left in NJ, with 80% of the taxes going towards the betterment of the schools…taxes were higher than many other counties in Florida, but a bit lower than ours were in NJ… and worth that in our opinion and so we sold everything and made the journey! My last of parents had passed away and that is why I finally agreed to leave NJ, we had been very close.
Hubby, if he had, had his way we would have been here ten years sooner, but I wouldn’t leave my parents.
Anyway, I also had my father’s estate to contend with too, being the executrix, but my best friend’s husband was our family attorney and I left much to this trusted friend, which worked out just fine… we did much by overnight mailings and even electronically through the bank there in Ormond Beach, at that time Barnett.

And so buying a home in record time was amazing to us, for when you live in NJ closings take three months, minimum, and that is why we were concerned, but not that much… with title insurance, no lawyers involved, and acquiring what are called abstracts, the history of the home, and so we moved in seven days after we arrived. Funny thing is I did try registering the boys for school while we were staying in an efficiency motel and the schools gave me a hard time and wanted Hubby there… as if they were not my children too! Ah the south… not that happy to be here then. I argued, but it got me nowhere and Hubby showed up to prove they are OUR sons too, from both parents! I pitied the single parent…
Inoculations were another thing, we had all their school transcripts and proof of up to date inoculations, I thought, but we were told more were required and so we went and did that too!

Ah, memories the boys had two different schools due to their ages one got the bus, our number one son since his school was further away, but little guy had two choices either to be driven or to ride his bike since it was less than the required distance. I drove him for quite some time, but eventually he rode his bike, due us having our restaurant.

I walked from kindergarten through my senior year of high school, well really only until I could afford my car that spring, due to both towns I lived in having the requirement that you must live more than two miles away to take the bus, and Hubby’s did too, walked that is! And we were fine.

Oh so Labor Day Weekend oddly is called that because it is the unofficial end of summer vacation for children I suspect and it helps the economy to have another one to sell, hotel/motel rooms, gas, plane fares, beach time, water sport rentals, etc… and to remember, why on Monday no one except the tourist industry and police and all other emergency people and hospitals etc have to work, ha!
Retail stores and car and all large and small appliance centers and you name it have their sales!
Now you tell me if everyone is actually working the holiday, why bother? LOL!

We retirees just consider it another day…but here in PARADISE!

On that note of have a good one however you choose to spend it, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and to ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Which way will the war go?

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