Flying Felines
By
Gerry Niskern
What do flying cats have to do with Labor Day?
Well, let me explain. You see, a couple of weeks ago, my grand-daughter flew with her two older teenage cats from Anchorage, Alaska to Greensboro, North Carolina. She and her husband were leaving the cold rain of their home of ten years for the warm climate of the Carolinas. Hubby and a friend drove their two cars across the country earlier and set up the house. Although he is experienced, he will be going to school to become a certified welder. She is a Cosmetologist and is already working and building a client base.
In the United States anyone can move any time and anywhere they choose. People change jobs and homes at will. This Democracy we live in has the freedom to make personal changes, unlike many other forms of governments around the world.
I’m reminded of my mom and dad driving across the United States from West Virginia to Arizona in the summer of 1942. My sister and I shared the back seat with many a serviceman hitching a ride trying to get home on leave. Both my parents need the dry climate for their health and were free to make that move even during wartime.
My late husband’s parents made a different journey in the late 30s across the country from the Dust Bowl of Texas to sunny California with two little boys in the back seat. His dad was a carpenter. He looked for work up the coast and ended up following the crops for a while. My husband, the older boy, talked about changing schools every month as they moved on.
The freedom we have in this country to move, change jobs, schools and even places of worship is all a good reason to celebrate Labor Day. Labor Day, the first Monday is September began in the late l9th century to thank American workers for building our democracy. American workers were able to labor anywhere they chose or to move seeking a better life.
The two flying felines, I am told, are real happy in their new, warm home and so are their owners!