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Labor Day was different 'back then'.

When I was a kid, Labor Day was different. We didn't go to the lake, or grill out, or have a bunch of people over. No, we had to labor on Labor Day.  Dad got off from his job at Plymouth Plating Works in Plymouth, Michigan but he stayed home and worked. It was considered an 'extra day' to work on the house, to take care of the house we were fortunate and blessed to have. 

They bought that house in 1959 for the enormous price of eighteen thousand dollars. Today, a  vehicle alone can cost you more than that and will depreciate as soon as you drive it off the car lot. But that was a lot of money then, and I can only guess that a large amount of dad's paycheck went to keeping a roof over our heads.

So on Labor Day, we laboured. Plus, other days dad got off. He didn't HAVE to be Labor Day. We ALLhad to help paint the outside of the house or clean something. My sister and I helped our parents and it didn't matter how old we were either.  We were given jobs we could do,even if it was just 'fetchin' stuff for dad. We learned to scrap the paint off the house and then brush paint on the house, clean out the basement, clean out the garage, paint a room in the house, wash windows, or raking that big pile of clay dirt that dad had hauled in there in order to grow better grass. ( that is very hard to rake, by the way, when there are these BIG chunks of clay you have to break apart) You get the picture.  We didn't always like it, OK, truth be known, we probably didn't like it - ever, but we did learned alot. Not just 'how' to do things, but to actually work.  Work is good for you and when you work as a family, you can get a lot of things done and build a lot of memories.

Over the years the house has changed colors and even size, a new room was added between the house and the garage, and a deck has been added, the grass is thick (hummm, thanks to us raking  that pile of clay dirt). 

My mom and dad STILL live in that house and for an old house, it is in great shape. Dad made sure of.

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