Saturday

Growing up, Saturday was THE DAY !!! Friday night was cool but, short. Sunday was church and yard work. Saturday was what I lived for. Now long retired, I prefer the weekdays. Everything is open on the weekdays, most people are at work so lots of events are no so crowded and my family is busy so they don’t stop by for help or to borrow something. I love my family but, babysitting can be tiring. If you ask your mother to watch your children on a Friday or Saturday night, do something very special for her…don’t pay her. My mother loved her Thrift stores. I would pick mom up at around lunch time and take her to a nice eatery for a good lunch…not Denny’s. Then – and keep in mind that this was over forty years ago – I would give mom $40 or $50 and ask her which shop she wanted to go to first. We would go to two, sometimes three shops. Mid afternoon, I would get back to work and make sure that nothing had gotten broken, especially a customer’s trust. As a General Contractor, I was free to do this often. During the Summer, my two daughters would go to work with me. I had a lucrative clientele and, if they had a pool, I would ask if I could bring my kids with me and everyone was happy to have my girls use their pool. My daughters have very special memories of going to work with Dad. Early on, I recognized the importance of having a job where you were not restricted from controlling your own time. My father was a Notre Dame graduate and he became a Bona Fided ‘Rocket Scientist’. He had always worked his tail off and Friday night and weekends, he would do homework. At eight years old, I asked my dad “Why do you do homework?” “Because a lot of young kids want my job” was his solemn reply. So, early on, I gave thought to how I would spend my time. As his eldest son, I was expected to become his ‘inhouse’ legal counsel. However, at my college graduation ceremony, I told my father that I would not be going to Notre Dame Law School; I was going to choose my own path. I had paid for my books and tuition at CSUN by working for a General Contractor and that is the career path that I ultimately chose. I did not need a BA Degree to become a GC but, my degree has worked to my advantage my entire life. Everyone needs a good education, however, how that comes about does not necessarily have to include an expensive institution and a framed Degree. Had I become an attorney, I wonder how much time that I would have spent with my daughters. This is a matter of PRIORITIES. No matter what a man does with his life, if you have children…they are Job 1. If then you happen to become President of the United States…that would be Job 2.