Labor Day

Every year, Labor Day gets treated like the day summer ends. One last cookout, one last swim, and then everyone quietly puts the pool floats away.

That's not actually what the day is for. Labor Day started because people fought, organized, and sometimes died for things that are easy to take for granted now: the eight-hour day, the weekend itself, the idea that a person's time belongs to them and not just to whoever's paying them.

Rob and I run a small business. It's just us, a couple of trusted suppliers, and a lot of early mornings answering emails before the phone starts ringing. We don't have a break room or an HR department. We are the labor. So this weekend means something a little specific to us: a day to actually stop, which is harder for a small business owner than it sounds, and a reminder of who built the floor we get to stand on. Every protection we didn't have to fight for ourselves came from someone who did.

If you've got Monday off, we hope you use it the way it was intended. Not just as the unofficial last barbecue of summer, but as an actual day of rest. Sit outside longer than you planned to. Let the conversation run past when you meant to start cleaning up.

And if you're working Monday, whether that's a shift, a shop, or a business of your own, we see you. That's the whole point of the day. It exists because of people like you.

Happy Labor Day, from our family to yours.

Anna and Rob
The Modern Hearth