SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER WITH MOM AND DAD
=====================================

Published: September 3, 2026
Context: A Nitetime family note

I got to work shoulder-to-shoulder with my parents yesterday, the three of
us tackling a project together, and it was pretty damn great.

It's nothing new, really. For years it was the three of us working at the
nursery. They jumped into school projects, home projects, and whatever other
mess needed dealing with. But there's something funny that happens when the
normal family dynamics disappear and suddenly everybody becomes coworkers.

At one point I offered what I thought was a perfectly reasonable solution to
a problem. One of my new "colleagues" considered it carefully and replied:

"Well, we can do it your way... or the right way."

And there it was. Decades of family history summarized in nine words.

But I noticed something else yesterday that I probably appreciate more now,
after a lifetime of working with all kinds of people: my parents hustle.

See the job. Figure it out. Get moving. Finish it. On to the next thing.

No standing around holding a shovel while discussing the philosophical
implications of digging. No disappearing for 45 minutes. No committee meeting
about where the wheelbarrow should go. Just work.

I suppose that's where I got a lot of it.

It was just one day of work, and we've done it a thousand times before. But
getting to stand there again, shoulder-to-shoulder with Mom and Dad,
everybody working toward the same finish line, felt pretty special.

Even if apparently we still have to do everything "the right way" instead of
my way.


NITETIME.NET