A Recovering Workaholic's Labor Day

My dad was something of a workaholic for most of my growing up, but I don’t have any bitter memories or hard feelings. In fact, I’m very proud of the work he did and the work ethic in me he instilled.

Even when dad wasn’t ‘at work,’ he was usually working—finishing the basements of the houses we lived in, remodeling the bedrooms, insulating the attics, repairing the lawnmowers, etc. When we went on family vacations, dad had the routes, campgrounds, and interesting tourist stops mapped out in advance so we got everywhere efficiently—and with some money to spare for a snack at the end.

Even when my mom went back to work, and delegated some of the ‘housework’ to him for the first time, he embraced the assignment with relish and became a cleaning machine in the kitchen. And something of a professional launderer, too.

So this past Monday—Labor Day on the calendar—was a fun one to spend with my favorite workaholic (and father) while he & mom were stopping over on a trip to Chicago. Now that he’s older, my dad has grown quite conversational and comfortable with just chilling out—though Laura has pointed out that when we’re chilling together sometimes it’s just because my dad & I are both working on our laptops—but at least everybody’s sitting in the same room, enjoying one another’s company, right?

In the old days, any time together was “project time”—what do you want to build, fix, paint, or plant? But this past weekend was special in that mom & dad were content to sit still—to tell stories and laugh, to play games with our boys & us, or to just sit quietly and read a book. And that felt nice. Like, well, a family.

Now, I don’t usually sleep in too late (my brain starts opening my to-do file around 6am), so this morning as I saw the open door to the guestroom, I was surprised to realize my mom & dad had left before I was even out of bed! (They wanted to get an early start—dad had something planned for the afternoon in Chicago).

I smiled at how hard it is teach an old dog new tricks. And at how grateful I am to have been raised in a litter of hard-working mutts, where family was a mixture of cuddles, chuckles and, crazy as it sounds, an eagerness for chores.

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. Galatians 6:4