We spent the Labor Day weekend in Ohio, where Gwen's family are from. It was the weekend we set aside to move all the furniture from her mom's place --(she had recently passed on)-- back to the DC area, where it will all work perfectly in our new home.

We are 30 days away from closing on our first place, and the entire weekend was spent either designing it in our minds or actually moving the furniture around to picture it in the new place. It was, for the most part, a nice weekend -- I write "for the most part" because it was a little bittersweet for Gwen. It is never easy to go back to the house your were brought up in and take out furniture that belonged to your mom -- who passed on less than 4 months. I experienced this myself more than 14 years ago.  

There were only a few minor glitches this long weekend. One included a moving company called J&R Moving and Storage, which is local to Elyria, Ohio. The company more or less tried to rip us off for about a thousand dollars. When it was realized that this was about to happen, we made the right decision to just do it ourselves. We rented a truck, wrapped everything and drove home through the glorious scenery of the Allegheny Mountains. (J&R was recommended to us by a friend of the family's; we can't wait to talk with her tomorrow and tell her how the transaction almost went down).  

On NPR stations in or around Pittsburgh we listened to special broadcasts dedicated to workers in the United States. It was a great program, filled with a tremendous amount of history that was apparently well-researched and then bundled with a great set of work songs. We listened, drove, talked and ... went back to designing the new house. It was special.

When we got back to the DC area and went to unload into our storage unit we just had to smile at the 20 or so day laborers sitting out beyond the loading dock, waiting with a hunger to do some work for anyone.  It was as if all kind of worlds melted in front of me today ... the mountains and the farms, the workers out on the field equipment; the double and triple trailers hauling whatever up and down Route 70; the bumper stickers for the UAW, IBEW, IAFF, Teamsters, and many Obama stickers. I counted exactly one McCain sticker.  I thought about Union Review, my own life, the life of a guy named Steve (who, though he wasn't officially my step-father -- was as much- and more- to me growing up). (Steve was a Teamster driver in NY his entire working life, and it is through his appreciation and gratitude for the union that my mine was formed).

We saw massive moving trucks; you know the ones ... Atlas and United Vanlines ... and I thought of my grandfather; my mom's dad, who came to the States from Naples, Italy in 1900 and, according to family stories, had to change his name to an "All American name" so that he could work. And he worked ... on moving trucks until he retired.

These long 7 hour drives, with a good cigar, a well-tuned radio, excellent weather and scenic views, a fantastic woman ... and a day off from the Teamsters -- well, it all brought me home, where I am now, exhausted, comfortable and just about ready to face the rest of the week.

Next Saturday I will be in NYC. I am heading up for the Labor Day Parade. If all goes to plan, I will be covering the parade for a forthcoming Teamster Magazine, as well as get to hand out UnionReview.com hardhat stickers. The order was made for the stickers and I was told that they SHOULD arrive before the parade.

Whatever you did today (and all weekend), I hope you enjoyed the time and the company you had. I hope you were able to take a deep breath from the daily grind and reward yourselves with a minute of good ol' downtime. As working people, no matter our trade or the sector we work within, we deserved a day off.