Labor-Free Zone

If you ordered my book, you will have already read about my annual celebration of (Surcease From) Labor Day, the time when I rejoice in my retirement and freedom from the bonds of employment. I am sure there are some (and you may be among them) who enjoy working and have chosen a meaningful career that satisfies the soul and no doubt makes the world a better place in the process. But for an awful lot of folks (and I am among them) jobs are drudgery to be performed in exchange for a paycheck in order to pay the rent and put food on the table.

This time of my life would be a time of unrestrained joy and exuberant cheering, except for the fact that those very same drudge jobs didn’t do much toward providing me with income in my old age. And so…I still need some extra bucks and I am therefore always looking for the part-time job that will allow me to continue enjoying some free time while still adding a drop or two to the bank account.

For two years, back in Missouri, I worked for H&R Block doing income taxes. A very intense stint of fifteen weeks of long hours and people-intensive work. And then it’s over and there’s a big hunk of money in the bank to tide things over till the next go round. It wasn’t an option for me last year, as Oregon requires a license I don’t have. But I am planning on getting that license this Fall and I will probably be doing taxes once again. Maybe at Jackson Hewitt this time.

I did some work for Friends of the Columbia Gorge last May and June and I may be called back there in the future although that is not guaranteed. I applied a couple of other places…a yarn shop, a community college. But nothing materialized.

So I am reconciled to needing some employment, but I intend to keep it to a minimum and to continue to live most of my days in a LABOR-FREE ZONE.