It’s Memorial Day Weekend! Do you have plans for your three days off? (Before those of you who understand the more serious meaning of Memorial Day blast me, please be patient. On Monday I will address the REAL meaning of the day). Here I sit in front of my computer, ready for the weekend. I have been bathed, shaved and deodorized. My outfit? A tee shirt and a pair of very comfortable shorts. So, am I ready for some fun in the sun? Not exactly.

The weather here is forecast to be windy and rainy. It doesn’t really matter, because my plans for the weekend were to stay inside anyway. I am CLEANING! I have rented a dumpster from the city, and they emptied it yesterday. That means this weekend will be spent refilling it. Yippee! Actually, I’m not unhappy working at home this weekend. First of all, I have worked two jobs for the last 5 years. I generally have worked 7 days a week , and the house has gone to pot. I am going to work on it this summer. These last few weeks when I didn’t have to work (because I took time off) have been wonderful! And I haven’t spent them sitting on my ass. I have been working, finding my house. And, of course, Master is coming in 11 days! I am trying to prepare things for him.

So that is how I’m spending my 3 day weekend (one day of which I am working anyway…) And I’m ready!!!

Britney Spears’ meltdown was big news. Most people know that she has been caught drinking and doing drugs, that she beat a car with an umbrella, shaved her head, was in rehab and hospitals. As you might expect , these sorts of things interfered with her ability to parent, and she lost visitation with her children. She has been “recovering” and now has limited visitation rights.

With the media all around her, Britney’s troubles were out there for the world to see. But what happens when the average person has a break down? It happens, you know. I think it is happening to a student in my school. His mom, who is currently going through a divorce from the boy’s stepfather, has been known to drink, do drugs, and run around. That was when she was with her husband, mind you. Know that she’s on her own, things seem to be worse. According to her son (who, I know, may be lying through his teeth) she is drinking, sabotaging his efforts to get to school and perhaps even destroying his homework. Yes, I know, this is the kid’s perspective, but I sure that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

The boy also said he hoped to go to his stepdad’s. I don’t know if he can swing that or not. His stepdad is not technically “related” to him. Nor do I know how many of her destructive behavior’s he also indulges in, although rumor has it he was on the losing end as far as their marriage was concerned. I will try to talk to the powers that be within the school system. The boy says they know about the situation, but I think I will check, just the same.

Yes, the Britney debacle was a mess played out in public. But at least the kids were protected.

I am currently having a boy mow my yard since my lawn mower doesn’t work. When I came home today, the young man presented me with something he found-a very young rabbit.

This rabbit was old enough to be on its own, but apparently not fast enough or smart enough to get away. He had cornered it and kept it in an empty trash can.

The young neighbor girl fell in love with it. She decided to ask her mom if she could keep it, but she didn’t get back to me. Knowing mothers (and being one myself) I suspect the mother said no. That’s okay; I had an argument all prepared for setting the poor critter free.

“See him tremble? He’s so scared. I don’t think he’d be very happy living in a cage, do you? If mom really wants to get you a rabbit, I know some people you could get one from. Their rabbits are very pretty, and they are not wild. They are used to living in cages and would be happy there. Don’t’ you think that’s a better idea?”

I didn’t need to use my exceptional reasoning skills. Probably a good thing, since kids don’t always fall for that anyway. So now I was left with releasing the baby bunny. But wait, another neighbor mentioned that she didn’t want that rabbit in her garden. Moreover, she said, another neighbor was trapping rabbits. I’d seen the trap while walking the dogs. It was a live trap, but there was no guarantee the occupant remained alive. It seemed best for that baby bunny to change residences.

I was going to a baseball game, so I put they little creature in a shoe box and took him with me. When I got to the school, I took him out back, far from the building, near a field and some trees. There I took him out of the box and set him on the grass.

I was hoping he would hop away, but he just sat there. Perhaps he was too traumatized by his experience. Maybe he just wasn’t very bright. I left him there snuggled in the grass.

I did my good deed. The rest, little bunny, is up to you.

Have you noticed them? Some of the cheerleaders are heavier than they used to be. This bothers me. And it bothers me that it bothers me.

When I was in high school, you had to be skinny and pretty to be a cheerleader. I was automatically out of the running. I sometimes wished I could be a cheerleader. They seemed to have everything: the looks, the friends, the boyfriends. I knew this was something out of my reach. Cheerleaders were the privileged few, the perfect ones that most of the girls aspired to be. There were no overweight or ugly cheerleaders when I was in high school. I was one of the girls who silently wished to be what they were.

But things today have changed. I’m not sure why. I can understand in junior high everyone being allowed to be on the squad. To me, junior high is about trying things out to see what you like, what you are good at, what makes you happy. But even at the high school level, I see lots of cheerleaders who were at least as heavy as I was. Some are even more overweight. These are girls that would not have stood a chance 25 years ago.

Although I am associated with some small schools, I find it difficult to believe that the fat girls are the only choices for cheerleaders. I know that, at least in some cases, there were tryouts, and the girls had to beat out some skinnier competition. These fat girls all have plenty of enthusiasm and drive for the job. Perhaps that is what they have that the competition lacks. I notice that sometimes the fat girls also make the dance team, which requires similar skills, so maybe these girls have the skills, the ability to memorize the moves required for cheerleading.

Like I said, this bothers me. Things have changed. Have we lowered our standards? Do we let just anybody be a cheerleader? And then, the fact that I think such thoughts bothers me. Why not? Why should the door be closed to these girls because of their weight? Wouldn’t I have liked the opportunity to be a cheerleader, an opportunity denied me because of my weight and the time I was a high schooler?

The irony is, I would not have made a very good cheerleader. I did not have the bouncy personality required. I would have done miserable job, and I would have been miserable doing it. Being smiley and nice and peppy is not something I really would like. I guess I could fake it today, but I wouldn’t enjoy it. Back then, I don’t think I would have even been able to fake my way through it. But, then again, why would I want to?

Many people have jobs that they don’t like. They think the job is unimportant, beneath them. You’ve heard the expression “dead end job”.

But is any job really worthless? With the exception of nepotism, no boss will hires someone unless they need that person to do a job. There are things to do and someone has to do them. Think of flipping burgers at McDonalds. It may seem like a worthless job…until you stop in for your Big Mac. Then it’s kind of important to have someone standing over that grill, making your hamburger for you, or saying “Do you want fries with that?”

Sanitation workers (i.e., garbage men) also are demeaned. However, if there were no one to do the work, your garbage would just pile up, wouldn’t it? And, when you think about it, you realize that it is hard, heavy labor. It takes muscles to lift and move the containers. Okay, even though many trucks now lift the containers for the workers, you still have to slide them around and position them. You have to make sure there are no jams in the equipment. It is work!

There are many jobs that require taking care of people’s physical needs, such as CNAs and home health aides. I’ve heard many people say “I’m not gonna wipe butts!” But someone has to. It is a job that needs to be done, like it or not.

With all of the jobs (and maybe even life itself) the trick is to focus on the positive. In any job, the people you work with can make it a fun place to be. Or, if they don’t, YOU can make it a fun place to be. I don’t mean screw around and end up getting fired. I mean be positive and find things to have fun about. When I made pizzas at a local pizzeria, the running joke was that the Italian sausage was rat balls. Hey, it is what it looked like. When wiping butts, I have known people to say, yeah, they are full of shit. If they can take the joke, why not?

Remember, every job is important to someone. It may not be exciting or glamorous, but it is important. And every job has its drawbacks. You think actors and musicians have it made? Just try doing their jobs. They put in very long hours and spend a lot of time away from home, on location or on tour. They must work hard to maintain their image, and they have no privacy in this media-filled world of ours.

So, remember, every job has importance, and every job has a downside. Take what you’ve got, do your best at the job at hand, and make the most of it.