Summer Showdown: My Independence Day

Dear Friends,

Well it is the 4^th of July, and as I am an American, we celebrate out independence from England. However, this is my own version of being independent. It has been over a month of not working and not being out in the sun sweating all afternoon and evening. My life for the last ten years was of being out in the sun sweating to make tips and making money. So today is my freedom from that horrible state of existence. This entry is going to show you all that my life is not about working a job that was not my life plan after ten years.

Before I started working at my former place of employment, I was use to hiding in cooler places avoiding the heat. I love summer because of the weather and also because it was around my birthday. However, I hated summer because most of my places to hide would be closed or on shorten hours. My biggest memories were of being in school during the summer just to have an excuse to be active. My former job was my escape but the longer I was doing it, the longer I was feeling the fun and excitement leave my soul. So I am happy that I don’t have to worry so much about that job anymore.

I was born in August and to most people; it was the end of the summer season. When I was younger, my birthday was the precursor to the end of summer. Even though Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, my birthday is the precursor. I bring this up because my former job would consume my summer. All the picnics, concerts, fairs and fireworks that I have missed or barely saw were not something I wanted to miss. It was bad enough as a kid that I missed fun because of something but as an adult, my excuse was working. One thing that makes me happy now is that next year, I can go to fairs, fireworks, picnics, and most of all, concerts. This job was more like a death sentence because of all the stress and added hassles in my life. So thank you God for this freedom.

My biggest thing that I am happy about from not working my former job and being free to do what I want to do during the summer is swimming. Most people find that funny because I haven’t been swimming since 2007. I love to swim. Actually, I love to move freely in water. Even though my astrological sign is of an earth symbol, I love water. I lived close to water all my life. No matter where I was at from Detroit to Flint to Monroe, I have been near water. I can swim and relax in the water again.

Finally, one aspect of not working at this job anymore is the freedom to do what I want and also be able to do something different in my life. My life was not meant to be a vendor or grunting to get tipped and paid. I might have had to change my life goals but I don’t want to be old and penniless. Hopefully, one day I can look back at this freedom and independence as a godsend not as a fuck up or mistake. Hopefully, I can write about that sooner than later.

Eugene Chandler III

Summer Showdown: To Be Remembered Not Forgotten

Dear Friends,

Someone once told me that people need to be remembered because once forgotten it is hard to remember someone special or someone important. I bring this up because of my former place of employment. Also because of the thousands of people I spoke to and served in the past ten years. I never realized that it is easy to forget someone until recently with my job and also my great aunt. Being forgotten is a part of life. Even famous people can be forgotten. We only remember them because of history and also society. So this going to be interesting because there are a lot of things and people I forgot in the past 15 years but hope to bring back to light.

First of all, I spoke of my great aunt. I tend to remember her daily but there have been days when I forgot she passed. When I speak of her, it is of the present tense not the past tense. I don’t want to forget a woman that was a part of my life until her death. Same goes with my grandparents. Even though I find it ironic that I remember my grandfathers more than my grandmothers. That is only because my grandfathers were imprinted in my long term memory. I remember them just like my great uncle. He took over the role of grandfather after my mother’s father passed. One thing I have always tried to remember them as they were not for what they might have done. Death is a part of life. However, remembering the dead gets harder each day.

After family, you tend to remember friends and people you know that passed. The blessing in that is most of my friends still live and happier. The few people that I have known to pass away are harder to remember because if I was not close to them, then I might have forgotten them. I don’t mean to be an asshole about that but then again, I lived in a city where people die over silly shit. Unlike family, friends are harder to remember if you weren’t close to them. My close friends were forgotten because of time, stress or a falling outs. Not death or lack of remembering.

What’s funny is that unlike people in your own personal life, celebrities are different. I bring this up because we live in a whole of uncertainties. Regular people die from normal things. Heart attacks, stress, disease and other things tend to shorten people’s life. Celebrities are not immune to that at all. As a kid growing up in the 1980’s and 1990’s, most of the older celebrities were dying because of natural causes and because we don’t live forever because humans are not designed like that.

Finally, I guess trying to remember people in your past regardless of who they are or what they have done for society in general does play a role in how you remember the past and the dead. I loved my grandparents and my great aunt and uncle. I still do. I also remember celebrities and historical figures. In the long run, when I am older, it is going to be harder to remember history but harder to remember my family history.

Eugene Chandler III