By, Celine Norman
I’ve been thinking about the conversations that we have been having lately about your work. I feel embarrassed that it has taken me so long to ask you about your experiences working in the mines, about your journey as a mechanic, about your dreams. I wonder how different my life would have been if I had a kid at 22, if college was never presented as an option for me, if I was a man and all I knew for “work” was physical labor. I’ve been thinking about how I have learned so much about the world through you. I not only can look in the sky and tell apart a Boeing from an Airbus, but I also have a particular sensitivity to what it means to labor.
I still remember the nights you would come home from work, grease all over your hands and arms, in your uniform. I remember Fridays’ were pay-days so you would take me, maddie and jr down the street to Paul’s Market for us to pick out a treat. I also remember how much you hated working. You would always say, “go to college so you don’t have to work and be miserable at your job like me.” During the week you would come home tired, not really able to be as present with us. Your drinking also made it hard for us to be around you. But on the weekends you would take us on little adventures around the city, like to feed the ducks at the park, or ride the bus downtown, or take us to the art museum on the second Saturday of the month when admission was free. On the weekends you didn’t drink. I think it’s because those were the days where you felt the happiest. On the weekends we could joke around, laugh, and be silly together. Those are the days I prefer to remember.
I’ve been thinking a lot about capitalism and what it has taken, and continues to take not just from us but so many others globally. It’s a machine that keeps taking, stealing things so precious like time. How many monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, fridays did it take from us? Precious time that we can never have back. It’s a loveless system that only steals, and has nothing to give. But I keep coming back to the weekends, so many beautiful memories that it cannot take. It cannot steal our connection or our love. Love transcends time and space (of course we know this to be true already). I could be sent to an entirely different galaxy right now, and our love would still carry with me. I hope to see you soon, so we can share more time together.
Con mucho, mucho amor,
Nene
