This Working Life

I've likely said it before, I am a person who is never really bored. Life is a pretty packed, pretty stimulating, pretty busy sort of experience.  Except for brief periods, I have worked at all sorts of jobs officially since I was about 16. I've been lucky, I've had some pretty awesome jobs (not all of them, but many) and I've been able to support a household, a family, a few creatures, and, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker, make enough "to keep body and soul apart." With all that said, I still wish I could do whatever I wanted to every day!

My work-for-pay work is generally creative, complicated and mission-driven, and I know I am very fortunate to have been able to do this work.  That doesn't entirely make up for the fact that I have a zillion projects, plans, ideas, and creations I would and could do if I didn't have to make a living!  Strangely, the older I get, the more I fantasize about what it would be like to have unlimited time to work on learning how to graft roses, building furniture, taking a pottery class, or starting a pie bakery. And while I know I've got a good thirty years left of this working life, and being a Generation X-er, I'll like never see any sort of retirement, and I genuinely love the work that I have been able to do in the world, what I could do with days and days of unrestricted time!

I'm a little envious of those folks who have this time and, here comes an honest confession, I get cranky when they talk about being bored, wandering around the house with nothing to do, or complain about daytime TV schedules.  Seriously?! Why aren't they starting a home-based business? volunteering at a local nonprofit? Learning to knit, bake, make art, grow things, speak another language, build, sculpt, make soap, or myriad other stimulating treats this life has to offer?!  Yeah, yeah, I know the grass is always greener on the other side of the time clock, but, seriously, if someone wants to send me a monthly stipend with which to pay the bills, I will gladly be the most creative, inventive and busy retired slacker on the planet!