Today at work, I saw the following message on a conference room white board.

After hearing today that my son’s gym teacher only requires kids washing their clothes once a month, I would like to announce that I am fully in support of more change (clothes especially).

Out for a jog, while on vacation, I spotted a big furry caterpillar crossing the road. I considered picking it up and helping it to the other side. I paused. What if it didn’t want to cross? What if it was getting its daily exercise?

I jogged on.

Soon I reached my turn around point and eventually reached the spot where I had seen the caterpillar. No sign of it. Also no sign of a furry mess on the road indicating a very small roadkill ending.

I smiled. My friend the caterpillar appeared to have survived. It appears as if it knew where it was headed, all along.

On Friday, you began to see the impact of Labor Day vacations throughout the office. Empty cubes. Doughnuts for the designated survivors. Clean email inboxes.

Another feature has IT swooping in to update the abandoned computers of those fully enjoying the three day break. Well, this end of summer tale features my cubemate Lisa, as well as Chance from IT.

Since Lisa’s cube enjoys a window and an occasional beam of warm sunshine, on weekends my office plant hangs out at her place.

Setting down my little jade-like greenery, I glanced at a Post-It Note prominently featured on my friend’s computer screen.

Given the fact that I was reading the note unsupervised in Lisa’s cube, I guess poor Chance had failed. At least Lisa’s computer had its updates installed. 1 out of 2 ain’t bad.

This morning, we were there. Lined up in our church pew, singing along to the hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

I was standing next to my 10-year-old son Ben. I could hear him singing along, when we came to the following line.

“Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?”

I looked at Ben and he returned the glance. We started to laugh softly. Dude, when your friends despise and forsake thee, you’re in a bad way.

That laugh. That joy and happiness shared with my son made me realize something. I was dialed into the church service. It was one of those beautiful Sunday mornings when it was really speaking to me. The scripture readings. The sermon. Everything. It was truly beautiful.

Not that I agreed with every single detail, but somehow that seemed alright. It was almost like a precious silent dialog with God. A type of peace.

I smiled. I was surrounded by love. I was at peace with my Lord and really receiving the Word. At the same time, I was giving back. Questioning. Contributing. Being one with the community, my family and friends, but also being happy in a personal and spiritual way.

If that is what awaits me someday. If that is what will greet me when I close my eyes forever. I will be so happy. So at peace. So the way it should be, at peace with our God.

Not sure what this has to do with labor, but I’ll take it for a day.

Tonight’s guest post is the contents from a text message sent earlier today by my beautiful and highly observant wife. Enjoy!

“Apparently Kirby (our beagle) needed some privacy…”

A surer sign than the leaves beginning to change color, I know it’s time for the first day of school, when I see my 10-year-old so bored that he’s playing with a dog toy.

Tonight’s blog post has been shutdown, because well all of the working drafts that I had sucked. I mean they were really not good. Lousy even by my blog’s low standards and I tell you, in this little forgotten corner of the internet, the standards are pretty low to start.

So there you have it, I’m sorry, but maybe that’s it. Maybe we should stop placing unreasonable expectations on ourselves. Maybe we should allow ourselves to fail sometimes. Maybe inspiration does not always have to strike on time. Maybe we should cut ourselves some slack.

Maybe, just maybe, we should recognize that being easy on ourselves allows space for inspiration to strike, even in the midst of a post about having nothing to write about.

Riding go-carts with my family, I experienced a common feeling. A random teen kept driving up behind me bumping the rear of my car.

Blocking his way, I kept the lead, but he continued to ram my go-cart. Annoyed, I took to the outside of the track and let him pass.

Well within second place, I punched the “gas.” That’s when the fun began.

I hugged turns, trying to overtake his car.

I maximized my speed and never let up.

I strategized my final approach.

Nothing worked to pass the teen. Not surprising, since I would’ve needed him to make a major error to retake the lead. He was too much of a try hard to allow that to happen.

It didn’t matter. I enjoyed the chase so much better than playing defense.

I’m not saying that losing is fun, but I can confirm that giving someone a good chase is a delight.

While away on vacation, I tend to worry.

Did I close the garage door?

Did I lock all of the doors?

Were any toilets left running?

Is the house on fire?!?

Well, let me introduce this vacation’s irrational fear. Did I leave the freezer’s ice maker on?

Not quite sure what I was afraid would happen. Ice cubes gone wild? A glacier in the kitchen? A human size Snoopy snow cone machine from Hell? Yep, all of the above. I was worried.

You know what? I had left it running. Gasp!

You know what? We came home to a tray full of fresh ice. Gasp!

Wait. What? No problems? Nope. No freezer Armageddon? Nope, but now we can enjoy a refreshingly cold beverage.

Hmm, guess that makes the score…

Kitchen Technology 1, Irrational Fears 0