How to we measure the labor of the unpaid workforce? — Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents

I miss breakfast.

My wife and I had a tradition on Monday holidays to go out to breakfast. Sometimes it was Eat n’ Park, sometimes Waffles Inc. It was our joint appreciation of the rest we had earned thanks to the labor advocates around the nation. And it was a small, but simple tradition that meant a lot to me.

That’s what I miss the most, the traditions and rituals of a 20 year relationship. Blueberry muffins on actually holiday mornings. Sushi on holiday ‘eves.’

When I left the paid workforce in 2010, I began an active career of community work that was unpaid but on a pace I could manage. It is still labor and it should be valued. But we struggle as a society to value the labor of people who are paid. Today, I crawled into a shed filled with spiders that terrified my 17 year old soon to be unionized welder nephew. I threw things out and he killed the spiders, then sorted. It was a good team approach. We had a good talk about elections.

I took a shower and a nap because I am disabled and that was a lot of work. I did it because it was necessary to pull off the BackYardSale on Saturday.

I was going to march in the Parade tomorrow but can’t find a ride. So I’m going to go to UHaul and clean out…