I worked at the post office as a letter carrier for 34 years. I was outside a lot and never cooped up in an office. I retired and stayed away from working for two years and then became a school bus driver, still my part-time job that has taught me more about human behavior than even being a parent did or even being married to (and divorced from) a psychologist did.

While science made a great hobby, I am glad I didn't do that for a living or anything else with any status attached to it. I had a blue collar life style that always brought me comfort and a pace and freedom to my life that I would not have had otherwise. I never bought a house and never regretted not having one single mortgage payment in my life. For me a mansion is a prison. Not for others though and I don't knock those who went after that. My sister enjoyed the wealth she dreamt of having and obtained and shared it. She and I have always been the best of relatives. It is just that a mobile home is more comforting for me. My employer never had the power over me that was hanging over others with big house payments.

I was one of those rich kids who had envy for those who lived in shacks. Shacks were like my tree fort. My tree fort didn't have windows, running water, electricity or even a stairway to get into it. But the one thing I had in that tree fort that I didn't have in the mansion was both power over my own life and at my own pace.

I got to see my father eat a lot of crow on his death bed. I was the only one with the patience to take care of him in his final years. The life I had provided that patience that I wouldn't have had otherwise. To each his own.

Had I succeeded in becoming a baseball player, a childhood dream, I would not have been happy. For others it was a source of happiness.

As for manual labor itself? I loved it. It was very rewarding.