Did you take the weekend off? Did you? Really? Did you turn off the cell phone? the crackberry? the pager? Did you leave the laptop in it's case? Did you resist the urge to check in with the answering service?

Were you able to relax? Did you forget about work? Did you enjoy your time with the family? Did you do something that you used to really love? something you have really missed? Did you get into it and enjoy it as much as you did back in the day without once thinking about Monday or work?

Of course not! You've had the Monday Morning Blues all weekend!

You see, I know you. I know, like most people in this world, you went to bed last night (and the night before that, and the night before that) dreading today. I know you didn't sleep well and did not want to hear that alarm clock this morning. But, alas it went off right on schedule....o.k....just a few more minutes you thought as you rolled over and pulled the cover a bit tighter...P L E A S E !!!

As you try to think ahead to payday, Friday appears to be somewhere out in the miserable infinity of time and space. Even last Friday seems so long ago. It must have been because there is nothing left in the wallet to show for it. Hump day is of little solace right now, it too seems sooo verrry far away.

Boy, how you would like to tell that jerk you work for to take his job and shove it. Getting a positive attitude is the hardest part of your day, and maybe you just had to postpone that little psychological bit of mind bending for another day.

Caus' it just ain't happening !!!! So smile! It's Monday! Dare to Dream! It's Monday! It's a New Beginning! Dare To Dream! It's Monday!!! Pull a Julie Andrews. Grab an umbrella and do a little song and dance as the rain drops keep falling on your head. It can still be just as much fun as when you were young and love was blossoming. Force your world to take on a new glow!

You see, my daddy, knew you too, knew what makes you tick, knew how you feel. He was an excellent auto mechanic back in the day. You know, one of those people who heard your car pull into the driveway and knew what was wrong with it. He could fix it too! But that was before computers. Computers? The curse of modern man. Most vehicles did not even have automatic transmissions or air. If yours did, it cost you a small fortune; money that could be better spent. And, air conditioning for your '55 Chevy Belair! Buy it at Sears and install it yourself...I'll spare you the details.

Dad always wanted his own garage but he had five mouths to feed, a farm to keep going and a job at the factory in town. He worked a swing shift. One week he worked days, the next evenings, the next nights and then after a 24 hour break he did it all over again.

Not having the time, money, or energy to chase his dreams, he decided, unconsciously, ( I am sure) to live them through me. He bought me a new set of Craftsman Tools from Sears and enrolled me in an auto mechanic school. Sorry, that just was not meant for me or I was not cut out for it.

Daddy, a WW II Veteran, had a third grade education, a strong back, and a sharp mind. When I was lost in advanced math classes, I could read a problem and without hesitation he would say, your answer is...now how you get there I don't know. He was always right but the prof wanted to know how you arrived at the conclusion.

Pop knew teenagers. He knew his boys. He was always a step ahead of me.

He was also sick, we just didn't know how sick. Medicine back then was not what it is today. Today it is not what it will be in another decade. He hurt a lot. Trying to find some short lived relief he and Four Roses became good friends. He took all kinds of medicine, but nothing helped. I recall him lying on the couch in pain dreading going to work in the afternoon. But, just like you, he would go. He had a family to support and promises to keep.

Because of his work ethic and commitment to family and community he was well respected by all who knew him. He could borrow money at the bank on a handshake...try that.

Pops never talked much about his dreams until I was in the army - Viet Nam...a new war, a new time. Even then he still could not do anything about his future. There remained two kids at home in public school. He could, however, now dimly see that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. So, slowly, cautiously, he started preparing.

Like me, daddy loved the fall and winter, holidays and snow, hunting and fishing. He was planning his biggest Christmas ever when word came he was dead. He had passed from the land of the living without realizing his aspirations. He had given the man his last conscious hour...not for the man but for his family, friends, creditors, and community. He essentially died in the factory, on the job. keeping promises and fulfilling commitments, dimly aware of the suppressed dreams forced to the back of his mind.

Dad was a great example and mostly because of his work ethic, I am a work-a-holic to this day.

So, like you, I am painfully aware it is Monday! I know you are having a rough day. I know you were tired before you started. I know you were depressed before you got of bed. I know you are full of doubts. I also know you have wants, wishes, hopes and dreams however weak they may be today. I know you want to walk out on everything and never go back. I know.

Monday or not, it ain't happening. So smile! It's Monday! Dare to dream! It's Monday!

Love something or someone more than yourself...It's Monday! Keep your dreams alive and keep walking. You are headed in the right direction. You are headed for a new beginning, It's Monday! You can be more than a survivor, It's Monday!

Like you, I remain haunted by the spirit that drove both my Dad and American Poet Robert Frost who wrote: "I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep; and miles to go before I sleep". But, let us not wait until we sleep like my dad did for then there are no more dreams to chase in the land of the living.

I know...I know.

It's still Monday!

But, will you have something worth getting up for next Monday? Will you have something bigger than yourself that draws you out of bed early? Will you have something that puts a smile on your face and a spring in your step like when young love consumed you? Will you dance in the rain and do for others like your heart had never been broken?

Will you walk with your head held high as if you had never learned grown up things like those we love we lose, there is little love or care in the world, there is never enough money to go around, there is no Santa Clause, the tooth fairy don't exist, Halloween is just an excuse to eat too much candy, and the Easter Bunny is a figment of some retailer's imagination?

I don't know...........Do you?

Can you put these things behind you and become a child at heart?...full of love?...accepting all things?...hating to go to bed rather than to get up?...and eagerly anticipating Tuesday with all the surprises it holds for you?

You have time! The Lord God created the world and everything in it in less than a week. You're still breathing, and It's only Monday!