The Grind

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The alarm sounded at 5:00 on Monday morning and while I normally don’t have to set an alarm, I was surprised when it went off.

Cause I was still tired.

And I have a creeping thought:

“I’m too old for this crap.”

I normally spend a little time in the morning trying to get my bearings before I get up and I checked Twitter, the Yankees and emails.

Yawned.

Thought about the grind.

The summer is construction season and I’ve made peace with that, of course. I know that I have to be on my toes in the summer when the sun is shining.

To look for days off during construction season would be a little like an accountant taking days off when taxes are due.

I headed to the meeting in the Falls, arriving a few minutes before the 6:30 start. The 20 guys in attendance all looked like I felt on Monday morning.

There weren’t many smiles.

And of course, it’s warm and there’s a lot of sweating going on. Some climbing, a lot of walking. 

“How’s it going?” I asked a familiar face.

“Living the dream,” he said.

And that’s what gets me about a lot of the people who look down their noses at guys who get up and go do real work like members of that road and bridge crew.

Up early, working hard with tools and equipment and PPE, using a box as a lavatory, eating their sandwiches with dirty hands that they can’t really get clean.

Day after day.

“Thanks for coming up,” the owner said. “I know it’s early. Most safety guys would rather have the meeting at 10.”

“Part of the gig,” I said.

“We’re getting old for this,” he said, repeating my first thought of the day back to me.

I laughed.

“Seems like we’ve only been doing this for 100 years.”

The dog days of summer.

Can be a grind.

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