Drivin' Wheel

I began working for people outside my family at six, in a minor way then, but significant because the so-called work process was to be important my whole life; and still is. How work functions is of critical importance to all societies and cultures, and yet much of what it is is largely assumed.

My feeling is that I was attractive as an employee because I was taught to work and liked it. It helped that I grew up in the great depression and I never had difficulty finding work to do. And I was able to observe workers in my neighborhood, talk to others about it, and generally be intrigued by the way people made a living and provided for their families.

In the last several decades I have been able to be a supervisor of other people's work, an employer, as I have continued to work along side of them; even after "retirement." Lately I have had the pleasure of working with young people who have kindly volunteered on our farm.

Because we have very little money we are dependent upon people to help us with our scaled down vegetable growing operation.

Drivin wheel came up recently because my son is working as a carpenter for a local builder and I heard him mentioned as a driving force on the crew. He sets a pace, as does, I'm sure, his twin brother, Alexander, as a chef in the kitchen. My drivin wheel days are over, of course: 80, arthritic and a little guarded. Who wants to spend his last years in rehab or worse? It took me 78 years to get my first hernia .... cuidado is now the motto.