Necessary Roughness

It’s times like these where I’m not the most enthusiastic about state holidays. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I’m teaching a class that nobody wants to attend but for force of keeping their job. The janitors have taken the weekend and today off, so the trash has piled up and the bathrooms need cleaning. Two-thirds of the computers crashed in some way or other yesterday, leaving me and the one on-call tech support guy swamped.

There’s a touch of irony in remembering “all gave some, some gave all” by sleeping in and not giving very much at all.

I get the Fourth of July and Labor Day “off” without it being a holiday necessarily, but at least I’m home then.

I can’t immediately recall anyone in my family who has actually died in combat. I have an uncle who is nearing retirement, a father and a father-in-law who were drafted and served their tour honorably. Come to think of it, I don’t know any friends of the family who died in combat either. Sgt. Bulmer is still in Baghdad. I guess that means if you know me, you have a pretty good chance of making it!

I hope you have a good Memorial Day, remembering our fallen Americans and treasuring the freedoms they died for.