Breadth Thrusts & Bread Crusts: Beginnings and Ends

JC Parets
September 9, 2021

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Labor Day weekend in Wisconsin usually means one last summer trip up north for one last summer swim in the lake.

For me, this also meant the final jump off the giant raft we built (a ton of steel sitting on 12 barrels, with multiple jumping platforms and a slide that ends six feet above the water). Then, it was time to bring it back to shore to disassemble it for winter storage.  

Driving south toward Milwaukee at the end of the long weekend, I saw all sorts of summer toys being towed home for the winter. While it was not quite as warm as in August and the sunset came a bit sooner than it did in July, it was still a lovely evening and a chance to look back and also look ahead.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, marks the traditional end of Summer.

But Labor Day is also the beginning of the final third of the year. Summer might be over, but there are plenty of glorious Fall days ahead.

School is back in session. The pace at home intensifies. The cadence in the market picks up.

This is not the time to pack it in and say "I guess I'll wait for next year." It is a time to look at the 2021 "to-do" list with fresh eyes. It's time to get stuff done.

Starting and finishing tasks will always be a bit untidy. It's like standing on the diving platform high above the water that is not quite as warm as it was a few weeks ago. You know the only way to resolve the situation is to accept the consequences of jumping off the edge. Staying put isn’t an option. 

It's time to take a plunge.

This reminds me of a passage I read recently in Ecclesiastes: "Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud they never harvest."

If we are too focused on screwing up, we never get around to living. When we are worried about making one mistake too many, we take no chances and get nothing done.

This year, I see Labor Day as a beginning rather than an end. I've got a few things on my list that I want to cross off before 2021 ends. Some are personal. Some are professional. A few others lie somewhere in between. They can't wait to be put off again next year. 

What's on your "I haven't gotten to it yet" list this year? 

Fall is coming. It's time to get it done.

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