Labor Day

via flickr

When I think of Labor Day, apart from a day off work, I think of the end of the summer. The end of the evenings when you actually get to witness dusk, when everyone is done with the summer vacations and kids go back to school. From here on out, the days get shorter and colder and fall rolls steadfastly into winter, Halloween into Christmas. You get up and go to work in the dark and drive home as the sun sets.

Manners

There's this phenomenon I've noticed lately and it seems, the older I get the worse it seems. No one has any manners anymore and I don't mean a man standing up when a lady enters a room kind of manners. I mean the "thank you" basic kind of manners that everyone was supposed to learn before kindergarten. Here's a good example, Mike's family came into town and we went to the pool. Well my 7 year old niece wanted me to go with her on the water slide. So we headed up the moldy stairs to the top of the slide and on my way this little boy snakes around me to get in line in front of me. I'm like "don't worry, we weren't in line" (yeah I'm that person with the passive aggressive comments) anyway, Mike tells me to relax as he's "just a kid". It's not that I'm upset because I now have to wait behind another kid to ride the water slide, my frustration stems from a deeper disgust of the lack of manners in today's children, and frankly today's adults. I worked as a nanny for almost 4 years, and one of my rules when any of the kids had friends over was that everyone had to use their manners. I didn't care if kids didn't want to come over because they had to respect me (even though I wasn't their friend's mother) I got tired of kids just acting like they owned the place, not that I did, but I was responsible for those children and that house when I was there.

Anyway, I can't count how many times Mike will hold doors for women who just walk in like they deserve to have the door held. Yes, you should be treated with respect, that is what he is doing when he holds the door, but no you're not entitled to not say thank you. Don't people still teach their children to say please and thank you? Along the same line, don't walk though a door when someone is behind you and let the door slam in their face.

I'll finish my rant with one example I'm sure we all face everyday. I learned to drive in Michigan, where although the speed limit is faster, there are less cars and less traffic. One of the first things I noticed upon moving to Illinois was that everyone just assumed that they could cut you off. Don't confuse me leaving safe space between myself and the car in front of me as space for your car. Or maybe, if you didn't see me you should give me a little apology "sorry I'm kind of an asshole" wave. Similarly, if I do let you over, just raise your hand off the steering wheel for one second to show your appreciation.

Now I'm not perfect and before anyone thinks I'm up on my high horse, I definitely have my moments. Sometimes I'm tired as hell on the way in to work and deliberately press the 3 button again and again until the door closes, even if I see someone enter the building. I'm also not awesome on formal R.S.V.P.'s, mostly because I don't want to finalize the fact that I'm not going to an event. I feel like maybe if I postpone saying no, I'll end up going. I even know from personal experience how frustrating it is when people don't RSVP, I mean how hard is it to send write your name and send back a stamped envelope.


Damn it.

Quote Me Mondays

I know it's Tuesday but I've been busy at work and wanted to start a new Monday ritual. A good friend of mine once told me this quote and it always rings true.

"Never explain -- your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe you anyway. "

- Elbert Hubbard

Weekend Getaway

With all of the stress I've been experiencing lately including going back to school, going down to part time at work, as well as the usual sprinklings of paying bills, traffic and everyday obligations, Mike and I decided we would get away for the weekend. We packed up our shit and grabbed Olive and headed to my cousin's cabin in Berrien Springs MI for a weekend of drinking, eating my cousin's great homemade food, fishing, 4x4ing, getting in fights with the neighbors, and explaining things to the cops. It was just the thing we needed to recenter and forget about all the bullshit we deal with on a daily basis. We made the drive late Friday night after work and dove right in. Cocktails and bags and 4x4ing, oh my. There were about 8 of us that first night. I made it until about 3:45 (2:45 IL time) and finally couldn't keep my eyes open. I was actually the first one to bed, with the others marching upstairs to the rest of the bunks at about 6 am. The next day didn't start until everyone woke up around 1 pm. My cousin's wife Mandy made us a large scale gourmet breakfast, which we gobbled up to fill our empty stomachs. We talked about the "situation" that occurred after I had gone to bed when the neighbor came down on his tractor to complain; not about the noise, not about the music or the 4x4s per se, but the fact that someone apparently drove on his "5,000$ lawn" (very much a Will Ferral "Big Time Stuff" moment, "I drive a Dodge Stratus!)) Everyone was pretty far gone at that point, but apologized (even though no one actually drove across the lawn) and the neighbor got in his crazy souped up tractor and went back home. Unfortunately, someone decided to give a little shout out to the retreating neighbor which was apparently the straw that broke the camel's back and prompted a call to the local PD. Four squad cars, some "investigating" of the lawn, and a badge flash later, the cops left and everything settled down. After reliving the story and cursing the neighbor Mike took Olive down to play in the water and about half of us went back to bed to sleep away the afternoon.

The evening official started when a few more people arrived (including my good friend Michelle) and Mandy set out to make some Frogmen's stew

After we all gorged ourselves on this incredible meal, we all headed down to the fire. We talked and laughed and stayed out long after the rain started to come down. We reluctantly started trudging back up to the cabin, falling more than once in the mud. We played bags and drank jello shots and road the 4x4s some more. We all began trickling upstairs to bed around 4 am with my cousin being the last man standing. He came upstairs shouting about the sun coming up and how he waved at an early morning fisherman while drinking a beer on the pier.

We all slept until around 1 again and ate another great breakfast. Some of us had to work later in the day and others had other obligations. Mike and I took our time getting ready, packing up and heading home, reluctant to go back to the real world.

Wordless Wednesdays