LABOR OF LOVE

"Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country." dol.gov

Since June 1894 Labor Day has been a legal holiday thanks to Congressional Legislation. The day is typically observed by parades, picnics, and rest from the very labor of which is being celebrated.

Martin Luther King once said, "If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

We probably all know the saying, "Do what you love. Love what you do." 

I am blessed to work in a profession where the rewards of the labor are far greater than imaginable. They are not monetary. They are personal. The physical, emotional, and mental toll the job requires are vast but worth it. It is a twelve month, seven day a week labor of love. It has to be. 

Yes, there are perks. The business is closed on federal holidays. There is ample time off for winter, spring, and summer vacations. Inside the buildings there is always a good amount of playing, laughter, and singing. There is also always things to be learned. Every moment of every day people are learning. 

My business is education. My building is a school. The people I work with are teachers. Our Labor is done with great love.

" Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level." Ted.com

And I bet that today, Labor Day, the people that I work with will be working, planning, and preparing for another day, another week, another moment where their labor can be felt by the people they work for, the people for which they care. For it is with the love and care of what you do that one can really make a difference. 

Happy Labor Day,

Magda

A truly inspirational TED talk by Rita Pierson

BORN TO RUN

Bruce and The Big Man

Forty years ago this past week Bruce Springsteen released the album BORN TO RUN.  The actual date was August 25, 1975. I was a mere 12 years old and going into the 7th grade.


One day in September 1975 I was home sick from school and listening to the radio. Probably not interested in what was happening on "Ryan's Hope" or "All My Children". The radio station had an album give-a-way and if you were the 101 caller you would win.  I dialed, and dialed, and dialed - rotary dialing - so you know I was determined. Busy, busy, busy until the phone rang and lo and behold I was the 101st caller (true story).  They told me the album I won and I was bummed.  I had never heard of the album or the singer, I thought I was going to win an Elton John album with the song "Rocket Man" on it. Oh well, I gave my address and thought maybe one of sisters would like the album.

None of my sisters wanted the album - they were too hip and into way cooler music like Cat Stevens, Genesis, and Emmy Lou Harris. So I was stuck with the album.  I gave it a try.  I slowly became obsessed with it and all things Springsteen.

In 1977 I started High School and BORN TO RUN was THE ALBUM!  From that moment on it was played at every party and we all sang all the songs at the top of our lungs.  It has probably become the anthem of my life with a couple of other Springsteen songs from other albums, "Rosalita", most songs from Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River. Actually any Springsteen song is my favorite with the exception of "Pink Cadillac". not sure why I just never liked it. Although I love "Cadillac Ranch."

Admittedly, I listen to a lot of music and am not picky.  I still sing songs at the top of my lungs and with three children aged 18, 19, and 22 I feel that I am up on most current songs, songwriters, bands, etc..  I have seen my fair share of Taylor Swift Concerts over the years (my youngest is a girl) and my current running playlist consists of Imagine Dragons, Rachel Platten, Bruno Mars, and Walk the Moon.  I even went to see O.A.R. in concert with my 22 year old son last weekend. I love musicals and have the entire Les Miz original London Cast recording in my iTunes library.

BUT nothing, and I mean nothing, can make me as happy as when I hear a song from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.Certain songs can bring me to a specific time and place circa 1977 - 1986 with some of the best people I have known in my life.  I have always felt blessed to have had the friends I had in High School and in college and the shared experiences we had.  I have seen many a Springsteen concert over the years and they have always been my favorite shows. Even in my adult life when I meet new people I know we will have a special bond if there is a shared love of all things Springsteen.

It may seem crazy and I promise it's not a creepy obsession it is simply a chance to experience joy!  The simple joy that comes from feeling young, walkin in the sun, with the wind blowin in your hair....

"Baby We Were Born to Run!"

Magda

P.S. Thank you Bruce Springsteen, Little Stevie, Big Man, Danny Federici, Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent, Roy Bittan, Patty Scialfa, and my Hometown Man Nils Lofgren

Enjoy this video
Born to Run 

Would love to hear your favorite song, lyric or concert experience, especially if it's a Springsteen story.

Letting Go

As parents we should be seasoned at letting go of a child. When the moment comes along it is so hard. We have had so much practice too - letting go of a hand so they can run to the playground, watching them get on the school bus for Kindergarten, sending them off to camp, handing them the keys to the car, and more. Every day of their lives we let them go a little bit so they can become the humans they are meant to be.

This season of letting go is especially hard.  The season of sending a child off to college.  It's a "milestone" and a "right of passage".  We were all "let go" to venture out on our own and begin to be independent and find our own way. It is time for them to begin a new  phase of their own journey.

It's an exciting and scary thing all wrapped up in one moment.  No one feeling this more than the one leaving - it is their journey after all.  We are spectators now.  Engaged in the game only when the ball flies our way or when needed to sing the chorus of a song.  

This beautiful written word by Kahlil Gibran sums it all up for me as my husband and I are getting ready to send our youngest, and only daughter, off to college.  It never gets easier by the way.  It was hard letting go of them all. Fear of the unknown I guess.  Will they be safe? The biggest fear.

Enjoy these insightful and remarkable words.

Let the arrow find it's way and the archer never loose sight of it's flight.

Magda

On Children by Kahlil Gibran Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Back to Writing - A Sentimental Journey

It's hard sometimes, to return to something. It's especially hard when there is no real good reason you stopped. Are good reasons the same as excuses?  I can never really seem to tell the difference between the two.

The best I can determine is sometimes life gets in the way.  When this happens it seems that doing the things that could be considered leisure activities, including the things we love, take a back seat to the more important day-to-day things that come along.  Since I last wrote on this blog two more children have gone through the college process, a new job has been started, and a number of dear friends have passed.  Life has thrown us a couple of curve balls that even the best hitter in the league would whiff.  There have been happy and sad times.  Basically life has happened.  I let life get in the way of doing many things that I love such as spending time with good friends, showing up for events, and writing, just to name a few.

To get back to writing I have taken a journey through previous posts, notebooks of half written essays and pieces of paper with topics and dates written on them.  By pieces of paper I mean things such as receipts, church bulletins, napkins, Starbuck cup wraps, and meeting notes.  All of these things have given me the thought that I wanted to write but have been too distracted by life to finish the task.

That's Dad looking dapper in red.
The girl on the bottom right is my sister, Rosie.

As life has been trying - being way too busy and feeling quite lost have been my predominant state of mind.  I have spent much of the last two years thinking about, actually longing for, my parents, especially these past few months. What would they say?  What advice would they give? What I wouldn't give just to be in their presence and feel safe.Just to hear their voices again.

Along came today and I re-realized a couple of things.
1. My parents are around all the time.
2. Life is Beautiful.
3. Life is Difficult.
4. Staying away from things you love is not good for the soul.
5. And the best of all - I have my dad's voice on my phone in my iTunes Playlist.

What a great day! How lucky!  My dad recorded a couple of albums and one is preserved through the Smithsonian and can be down loaded on iTunes.  I kept thinking, if only I could hear my parent's voice it would give me such joy.  Joy. The thing I lost the most.

Just like the gift of life itself I am listening to my dad's album as I write this post. His young, beautiful voice singing away. Listening to it is reminding me that my parent's journey was interrupted and life got hard.  They both found their way back to the things they loved, things such as singing for my dad and writing and painting for my mom.  They also both loved the beach and made time to get there. They had to persevere through difficult times and let things go that were out of their control. They both recreated themselves many times.  They both did things they loved and did them with much Joy.

It has been quite a journey to get me to where I am now.  Who knows what's in store.  I do know that things will be what they will be and when the journey becomes too sentimental and the road too hard I can once again find comfort in the beautiful voice of my father while looking at one of my mother's paintings. In hopes of leading me to again find the joy in life.

Hope you find your joy.
Magda

http://www.folkways.si.edu/leszek-kobylinski-with-jan-wojnar-and-his-ensemble/sentimental-journey-to-poland/world/music/album/smithsonian

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sentimental-journey-to-poland/id276149871