As hard as it is to believe, one look at the calendar reveals that this weekend is the last weekend before Labor Day here in the States. Now for me on an emotional level, Labor Day Weekend has always been the last 'official' weekend of the summer. Yes, yes...summer officially ends in September and warm weather certainly stays with us well into October here in DC...but Labor Day, well - that's kinda' it. And this time of year always carries with it an implicit level of sadness I can detect...in myself and even in the trees too, arching and aching a bit more under the weight of the leaves they've been supporting all summer. I used to think it was merely the 'return to school blues' that used to kick in at this point in the season, but now as an adult and certainly out of school, they're still there.
I thought for a while that my body and mind was so USED to this seasonal blues over the years that like clockwork the neurotransmitters fire and well, here it is September again. Until my dad's protracted one-month hospital plight from which he didn't recover--this very time of the year, two years ago. And I guess, the toll that event continues to take, albeit in different forms now.
Alan Moore, the comic book writer and author of the amazing Watchman series, is hard at work I read on an ambitious, lengthy tome that portends to reveal what happens to us when we pass away - or if I understand correctly from the abstract revelations in an interview I'm recalling -- it's that we all don't pass away, but continue reliving the same life over and over. (I'm sure they're complexities and nuances I'm not recalling specifically, but that's the gist.)
So, if Moore happens to actually be onto something, perhaps Labor Day should be renamed to Belabored Day -- because I'm getting pretty weary of these seasonal misgivings. And that the blues I've been saddled with that arrive this time of year since childhood has rendered me rather prescient, I think...but instead of the comings of what have you at this time of the year, it's actually been the departures.
So, one last weekend for the staycation, then. Enjoy responsibly.
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Small Axe (Mp3)
Toots & The Maytals - Pomps And Pride (Mp3)
Jimmy Cliff - Bongo Man (Mp3)
The Pioneers - Let Your Yeah Be Yeah (Mp3)
Johnny Nash - Guava Jelly (Mp3)
Greyhound - Black And White (Mp3)
Horace Andy - I Feel Good All Over (Mp3)
The Heptones - Hypocrite (Mp3)
John Holt - Stick By Me (And I'll Stick By You) (Mp3)
Eric Donaldson - Cherry Oh Baby (Mp3)
