Labor Day's of Yore

By kiki

This morning as I sat out on the patio with coffee and cigarette and listened to the beautiful Diana Krall, I started reminiscing about past Labor Day weekends. The Labor Day weekends of yore were the end of the Eastern Sierra fishing season. We would make the trek up Highway 395 in our motor home; at the beginning (the 1960s), it was a pickup with a camper. But either way, it was always a camping vehicle full of kids. For many Labor Day weekends, my sister Annie, Willie, and their kids were camping with us. To us, it was the "World Series of Fishing and Camping." On other camping trips, when it was just adult guys, it was the "World Series of Borrachos" Good times for sure!!

Those Labor Day weekends are now just memories of times gone by, great memories, to say the least! Willie passed away in 1982. And after a time of mourning and sadness, and as Willie would have wanted us, we all moved on with our camping trips. But those Labor Day treks up 395 lost some of their fun and luster without Big Willie because Willie, my dear friend, and brother-in-law, was the one who made those trips so memorable. Though we missed Willie, we kept making the trek for a few more years. But with the kids grown and on their own the last few Labor Day camping trips, the motorhome was empty, just for Connie and me. Then on one Labor Day weekend, we didn't make that trek up 395, and without warning, that beautiful chapter of our lives ended. The motorhome sat for years until around 2000 when I gave it to the Salvation Army.

In these times, Labor Day is just another weekend for us…..Time has moved on, and so have we… So have a safe and happy Labor Day!