Back to Work

24 March 2008

I'm going back to work today. This amazing last week has only served to underline my feelings that I really would prefer to never work. When I have to work I feel like I do a good job--guided mainly by a work ethic instilled in me by my own parents, my dad especially--but the fact remains that given the option I would not work at all. I would be very busy and I would do lots of things, I just wouldn't go in to an office.

Maybe we could pack up, Amelia, Heidi and I, and head west. I'd like to get involved in a land rush like they had in the movie Far and Away. We could find a nice big spot on the prairie and build a little house on it. We could work on the farm all day. The kids could call me Pa. And our days and years would be filled with amusing yet educational encounters with the local townsfolk. These encounters would get more exotic and interesting as the years wore on--sometimes involving ex-NFL football players.

Hmm. Looking over that paragraph it seems slightly unrealistic. It does bring to mind a friend of mine (or is he a relative?) who works at a big financial job out east. His job comes with status and prestige and requires a ton of hard work and long hours. We were talking one time about what he might do when he retires and he said he would like to be a greeter on the ski slopes. This would be similar to the Wal-Mart greeters except slightly younger and on mountain sides. Like my little house on the prairie scenario this too is a little unrealistic. And what we will both try to do is bring as much of our dream scenarios into our real lives.

So the dream scenario is the writing of those three paragraphs. The reality is that I have to go to work and can't think of a suitable ending. It is 6:56 and I said I would leave at 7:00. If I never had to work I could treat you to a really tasty final paragraph--one that would leave you smiling through your tears. But I have to go to work.

I'm off...