The last holiday of summer is over. I’m certain it was not a very good celebration for the many that have been without jobs for several months. I was thinking how “Labor Day” used to be when I was growing up in Omaha. At the time we were living near a major street……one of the parade routes.

Our street was full of fire trucks with men marching in-between. The same was true of the mailmen, their vehicles, and the policemen riding motor-cycles. I was of the age where a parade was exciting. My brother and I sat on the curb to wave and clap as they marched past us.

There were balloons, banners, lots of marching bands and political people riding in convertibles who waved back to us. It truly was a time to celebrate employment for the workers and the providers who made their jobs possible. I didn’t see one parade on television yesterday but surely there were some.

Believe it or not, I have to hurry each day to do things that must be done and then the things I look forward to for leisure time. The days fly by with rapid succession and I will soon hit the 2-week mark on being put out of commission. I still do not have pain……..the next time I have pain like I endured three months before I had the X-ray, I can guarantee that I will drop everything and go to the doctor. High pain tolerance is greatly over-rated.

I am on the receiving end of several folks who have shown up to see what I need and offer help. Whereas I have mostly been the caregiver in my life, I now see how it is from the receiving end. I never realized how grateful people were whom I’ve helped in the past but I am “getting it.” When a person is limited in what he can do it is beyond thankfulness to have someone come in and act like it was a privilege to do something…..anything.

Roy Z. Kemp wrote a piece called, Valued Deeds, that I’ll share with you.

A little, cheerful, friendly smile that eases painful heart
May be remembered many times, long after you depart.

A small act of decency, a deed to show respect,
May be the greatest ever done, for great is it’s effect.

A little word of friendliness by which a heart is fed
May be the most important word that you have ever said.

Essentially Esther