Monday is Labor Day.  It is the quintessential day off.  A (more sweet, than bitter)  bittersweet 3-day weekend.

Many see it as the official end of summer.  The end of vacations and lazy days.  Or some see it as the beginning of a new school year or the coming of fall and a respite from the heat.

It is all of those things and so much more.  Labor Day is the day we celebrate the contribution workers have made in the strength, viability, prosperity, and overall well-being of our nation.

While nationally, our first Labor Day was the first September Monday in 1894, it had been celebrated in many states in the decade before.  It began as a holiday created by carpenters and machinists as a “workingmen’s holiday”.  A way for the backbone of our nation to celebrate and honor each other, the work that they do and the role that they play as the bedrock of American ideals, standards, fortitude, and freedom.

In 1909, the first Sunday of September was deemed “Labor Sunday” and is dedicated to the educational and spiritual well-being of working Americans.  Be sure, this weekend to not just embrace Monday, but the importance of Sunday as well.

This Labor Day weekend, pay homage to those generations before you that marched, sat in, fought, lived, and died so that workers of all creeds, colors, backgrounds, nationalities, religions, genders, and ranging abilities had economic, political, and social rights that resonated in the grander fabric of a nation.

Whatever you have planned for this weekend, WORK IT!

Take a road trip with nowhere particular in mind.  BBQ.  Play.  Swim.  Laze.  Do whatever it is you want to do.  Have fun at a kegger pool party.  Go crazy rooting for the home team at the ball game.  Enjoy dinner with friends.  Don’t feel guilty about sitting on the couch binge watching Marcella on Netflix with a bowl of cheesy popcorn in your lap.

Don’t fret if you have to actually work.  Frankly, we celebrate and thank you the most!

Raise your coffee, tea, lemon water, beer, fine (or box) wine, or cocktail and toast to those we’ve loved and lost due to poor and unsafe working conditions. It is because of them that we work safer and healthier today.

Once you’ve done that, get to celebrating!  This weekend is about you.  This weekend is about the working role that you play as a critical brick in the foundation of a nation.

Whatever you do, be safe, be well, and take good care of each other.  We, each and every one of us depend on you – as we are all one from the many.

Happy Labor Day Weekend, y’all!