Labors of Love

Another Labor Day come and gone.

For most of us, the hardest work we ever faced was something unpleasant, usually during our teen years, as we entered the workforce. For some of us, it was toiling in the blinding heat of summer, carrying stacks of roofing shingles up a ladder to a carpenter. Maybe it was cleaning the grease pit at a convenience store "kitchen," which specialized in chicken wings, high-fat burgers, and crinkle-cut French fries. Or it might have been enduring the mind-numbing repetition of assembly-line work, trying hard not to lag behind the experienced workers, as you plotted your way into a new career.
For me one of the hardest jobs I ever had involved scraping and shoveling asbestos insulation from ovens used to cure sewer pipes. That was a very long summer.

Each of us keeps a memory tucked into some corner of our mind of the hardest jobs we ever had to do. It's good to pull out that memory once in a while, so we can put our current job in perspective.

For example, a veteran sitting all day long in an air-conditioned office, attending boring meetings can seem a grind at the time, but it's absolutely delightful next to being yelled at by drill sergeants and endless hours of physical training.

When it comes down to it, hard jobs aren't always defined by soaring temperatures, blitzed muscles, or intolerable bosses; they can also be measured by the amount of stress produced, anxiety raised, or nightmares generated.

I can do great doing most anything physical or mental, but the hardest work for me involves relationships.

One of the toughest jobs I ever signed up for is being a husband. Even today, after years of married life, I struggle to define my role and responsibilities in this mighty endeavor. And, of course, the transition from husband to father creates vast opportunities for other hard jobs to surface: changing diapers, giving baths, helping with homework, encouraging broken hearts, and teaching one to drive.

In retrospect, my job as husband and father may be one of the most difficult in terms of stress and anxiety, but it's one I would not trade for all the air-conditioned corner offices and six-figure salaries in the world. That being said, there are fringe benefits, too. Like yesterday afternoon, when my son bolted across the backyard, threw a couple of well executed head dekes, and caught my screen pass just before going "out of bounds" at the side of the house. Yep, the hours we spent playing catch in the backyard are paying off. And with the NFL season kicking off this week, his timing couldn't have been better.

When have you found a tough job turn into something rewarding?

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