Thursday, July 05, 2007

A Holiday In Mid Week

Most of last night I thought it was Sunday. I was all prepared to gather the trash and put it on the curb. Happily, today is really Thursday. Tuesday was a weird day at work. There must have been a full moon or everyone was just really in need of a day off. It was a blessed relief to leave work and go to the day-care to pick up Chloe. Nothing brightens my day like time with her. It is wonderful for me to be a child with her and to share her vision of life and her sense of wonder. It is a wonderful thing to be a grandfather.

Yesterday was a quiet day for me. It was full of simple pleasures. The alarm clock was turned off and I slept later. When I awoke and went downstairs, I had my morning coffee with a muffin and the daily news. The neighborhood was quiet and I was at peace. Later in the afternoon my wife and I went to a movie at one of the local cineplexes. My son, the future priest, had to work. Someday he make be ministering to the faithful. Today he is still a Customer Service Representative at the Papa John's Corporate Office dealing with people who are angry because their pizza didn't have enough pepperoni on it. After the movie I had one of those wonderful naps when you seem to have slept for hours. My day ended watching the Boston Pops Orchestra and John Mellencamp playing and singing patriotic songs before a massive fireworks show. The kid next door was quieter than usual. Most years he has an arsenal of fireworks and explosives equal to our local Thunder over Louisville and the Boston Pops concert together. He usually saves the best till my bedtime. He's older now and a little quieter. I think his attention is more focused on girls now than firecrackers. By the end of the night nature was producing its own fireworks. As I lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, lightening and thunder filled the sky. I think I drifted off when the rain finally arrived. I hope everyone who had the good fortune of a day of rest and relaxation yesterday enjoyed it. At this time of my life, I live for such days. Its not that work is so bad. Its just that being at home and doing what I want when I want is better. When my father in law was still alive and I was a much younger man, I was complaining to him about work. He responded, "Wait till you have been doing it forty years"! As someone in their early twenties I couldn't understand what he meant. Now I do because I have been working for forty years. I got my first job at age 16 as a bag boy in a mom and pop grocery store. After forty years of school and work, one starts to yearn for the finish line. Of course, I know myself well enough to know that even when I no longer have to work, I will still need to do something. That something, however, will be something I love and it won't even matter if I get paid or not. Doing what I love, for free, is freedom.

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