Every day is important

Being a working person in the field of manual labor has been my lot in life since I began collecting newspapers in the neighborhood after school to sell to the recyclers. It was good for a few dollars to enjoy some recreation on a weekend. It was all I knew. Money, for our family did not come from the government or other agency. One of our family motto's was, "Work first, play second!" We observed that every day. Another motto, "Choose to be happy!" went hand in hand with all that hard work. No matter what we did, we put some play happiness into it. When you are poor, you have to make the best of what you've got.

As I grew older it turned out that I did not have the patience to sit through the education process and earn a degree. (At least until I was 55 ears old.) This pretty much led me into the manual labor category. And, I relished it and actually still do. Mostly in the lower wage scale it meant, to support my family it took at least 60 or more hours a week to pay the bills. I'm in my 70's now and still work those hours. Something I have learned along the way: Choosing to be happy was the way to go. Every day held important opportunities and if I was happy it was much easier to see those opportunities and take advantage of them. Every day is important because it will never come again. good to remember, I have no regrets and I do not know anyone happier in life than I am. Memorial Day is a good time to meditate on that.