The Perfect Job

What’s your perfect job? 

It all depends, I suppose, on what you consider perfect.  Nothing, of course, is perfect; everything is flawed in some way.  When it comes to a job, there are so many facets to consider that it would be hard to describe what perfection might be. 

Despite its flaws, I had what I considered the perfect job.  It had almost everything I could have wanted in a job – flexible hours, a great work environment, fun work and it was a time of personal growth.  What it lacked was an opportunity to have a say in how the business was run, and a hefty paycheque.  There wasn’t even a decent paycheque.  Yet it was the perfect job.

A number of years ago I fulfilled a longtime dream by taking lessons in stained glass.  Turned out I am pretty good at it, and I was hired by my instructor to work part-time in her studio.  It was great.  I made whatever I wanted in stained glass.  I could order glass I wanted to use but which we didn’t carry so my pieces were somewhat distinctive.  I followed whatever pattern caught my interest, then went on to create my own patterns.  I found my creative outlet and reveled in it whenever I was at “work”. 

Regular customers and I used to joke about what a horrible job I had, working in a small, hot studio, but we all knew that I had the greatest job in the world – I could make stained glass all day long, provided I also took care of customers in the studio.  That was great, too - I could help other people with their projects and help them pick out glass – it seems I also have a decent eye for colour and how it can be used in a stained glass panel.  (I confess to a personal preference for using very little in the way of coloured glass for my own pieces – I love putting together different textures of clear glass and then adding splashes of colour.)  That job allowed me to work at something I became passionate about.

For awhile, I even made money from the pieces I created – my work was for sale not only in the studio where I worked, but in several stores and galleries around the Golden Horseshoe.  I even had repeat customers for my panels.  It felt wonderful to know that my creativity was not only being indulged, but appreciated.  And paid.

It all came to an end when the recession hit a couple of years ago and people stopped buying unnecessary things like stained glass.  I was the biggest expense for the studio, so I was out the door. 

It’s been a couple of years now since that perfect job came to an end.  I’ve moved on to a full-time office job doing something totally different, but creative in its own way.  I love my job, but I can’t say I consider it the perfect job. 

Do most people get to work at their dream jobs, their perfect jobs?  I hope so.  Loving your job is great; having your perfect job is the best.

Options

One of the things I have been thinking about lately is options – options for future employment and future lifestyle.

When I was in my twenties and thirties, I had lots of options; the world was waiting for me to choose what I wanted and where I wanted to do it.  I had always found it easy to land a job; Jim was the same way.  We would dream and talk about what our future held and how we anticipated retiring early.

That was then, and this is now.  We are at the age where we had expected to retire.  Now the dreams are more realistic, the options fewer.

Somewhere along the way, options began to disappear  Once we both hit 50, we realized that we weren’t prize candidates for new jobs anymore; for me, it was even worse because I couldn’t find a full-time job at all.  It wasn’t until about a year ago that I really lucked out and was hired at what I call a real job – meaningful work in an industry I know, doing work I really enjoy and for decent money.

But where do we go from here?  We’d like to travel, we’d like to have more time to volunteer, we’d like to have more time to work at our hobbies.  Retirement isn’t an option for us in the near future.  Do we continue at these same jobs for the next 8, 10 years and try to position ourselves for some sort of retirement afterward?  Do we try to move to where we’d prefer to live, knowing that any jobs we get would be a real backward step?  Can we even expect to get different jobs that we’d half-way enjoy?  Could we scale back our lifestyle and make the sacrifices we’d need to make to semi-retire? Should we? 

The lack of options concerns me.   It’s no longer a matter of choosing where to live, where to work and how long to work; now it’s more about whether any of those are choices we can make.  To some extent, of course, they are; we always have a choice.  But the practicalities of real estate values, lack of employment for mature folks like us and family circumstances are at work as well, and they can’t be ignored. 

Lots of questions; very few answers.  Time continues to slip away and so, seemingly, do the number of options open to us.  Are there things I’m not seeing; opportunities that I’m missing?  Maybe it’s time to think outside the box and see what else there is out there for us.

It's Sunday, and all's well on the earth

Here it is, Sunday, May 22 and I believe we aren't missing three per cent of the world's population due to a general bodily rising through the air.  As much as I found the whole Rapture thing very interesting, I'm just as glad it didn't happen - I'm apparently quite attached to my life as it is, and, however things went for me, everything would be vastly different.

I guess mathematics isn't the answer to everything.

Two stories

There were two wonderful stories in the news this week that I think are worth mentioning.

The first is that the end of the world is supposed to begin tomorrow, May 21.  I believe it is to happen sometime around 6 p.m., but I’m not sure about the time zone – it could be a few hours either way.  Imagine that – the beginning of the end.  It’s a phrase we use so cavalierly in other contexts and here is someone using it literally.

The calculations that have been made for this event are mind-boggling.  Magic numbers from the Bible have been multiplied and then multiplied again … I still don’t understand why those, of all significant numbers found in the Bible, have been used while others weren’t, but I guess that’s a matter of study and understanding.  (And convenience, I suspect.)   I read through an online tract that explained it all and I can tell you that that I know just as little after reading it as I did before. 

I don’t believe for a minute the biblical Rapture is going to happen, but I have some admiration for the people who not only believe it is going to happen but are out there spreading the word.  The ones I have read about or seen on TV are not crackpots or lunatics, but sincere people who have a concern for other people’s souls.  They have given up everything and want to bring as many people as they can into the fold to enjoy eternal rewards.  It’s an act of selflessness rarely seen, and it seems sincere. I’m sure they will feel differently when Sunday rolls around and they and everyone else are still here, but still, it’s a nice gesture.

The second story was one I read just this morning, where a parishioner of a Florida church has asked that Osama Bin Laden be placed on a prayer list.  It seems a ludicrous request and it apparently hasn’t been well-received by some of the other parishioners. This request is a wonderful contrast to the pictures we saw of people dancing in the streets at the news that Bin Laden was dead.

The parishioner is right.  Christians who believe in praying for the souls of the departed should pray for Bin Laden, as the Bible teaches – and the parish priest pointed out - that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  It’s going to be a hard sell in this particular case, but isn’t it great that someone has seen what their faith requires and is willing to act on it? 

Why my interest in these two stories?  I think it’s because it’s so easy to knock Christians and point out the hypocrisies and inadequacies that exist in Christian churches that these two stories point out the goodness that exists as well.  Yes, it’s a little odd to predict the Rapture and believe in it, but the reaction among those who believe it is a reaction of love, not fear and fear-mongering.  And yes, it’s hard to have sympathy for a terrorist who plots the downfall of your nation, but it’s an act of love and faith that makes a man pray for that terrorist.

Rain, Rain ....

We are into day four of what seems like an interminable run of rainy, dark, foggy, windy, cool days.  What had been spring turned into what feels like fall. 

Rather than complain about it – as you might expect I would – I’m beginning to embrace it.  There is real character to these kinds of days that doesn’t exist during fair weather. 

Over the past few days I’ve been happily reminded of past camping trips in the rain, when everyone emerges from their tents and trailers during a lull in the rain, and logs are split for the evening fires despite the threat of more rain.  I’ve been reminded of the gothic novels I loved to read as a girl, stories in which fog and rain shrouded the moors, bringing mystery and suspense and – for me - a shiver of excitement in anticipation of whatever was in store for the heroine.  I’ve been reminded of rainy fall nights when a pot of soup on the stove is the ultimate comfort food and the coziness that comes from being on the warm side of the window is the best feeling in the world.

I’m quite enjoying this run of rainy days.  I’m not sure I’ll say that if the rain and gloom continue much longer, but for now, it’s just fine.   

Q and A

Question:  What's the best way to determine, with reasonable accuracy, when the price of gas will go down?

Answer:  Find out when I filled my vehicle and wait a day or two.

Really.  I filled my tank two evenings ago and today gas was down 10 cents a litre.  Sheesh.

Blossom Time

One of the most wonderful sights of spring are blossoms.  Spring has been late this year, but we’re starting to see a few blossoming trees here and there.  Our own ornamental apple tree barely has the beginnings of leaves; the blossoms are going to be late.  They are worth waiting for, though – intense purple-pink flowers last for a few days before they drop.

One of my favourite trees is just at the end of our crescent.  The tree is a “weeping” tree – or at least that’s what I call it.  It’s an ornamental fruit tree of some sort, and its branches arch gracefully down toward the ground.  The blossoms are a delicate pink-tinged creamy white and their fragrance is out of this world.  When that tree is in full blossom, I make sure I walk past it when I’m walking the dog.  He probably wonders why I let him sniff in the area for so long without urging him to move, but I am content to let him enjoy his doggy scents on the ground while I enjoy the heavenly scent of the blossoms.

Pretty soon the fruit trees in Niagara should be blossoming.  The view is magnificent – orchards of pinks and whites.  Long lines of vehicles drive up and down the Niagara Parkway to enjoy the blossoms, and it is one of the few times I don’t resent being caught in slow traffic.  To blow on through without slowing down to enjoy the short-lived burst of colour would be a shame.

This morning I noticed my favourite of blossoms – a magnolia.  Those waxy petals of pink and white are the most beautiful blooms of spring.  I had no idea that magnolias could or did grow in southern Ontario until I moved here.  At first I didn’t know what they were, but I would slow and stop and enjoy them if I was driving or walking past a magnolia in bloom.  I finally found out what they were, and looked around my yard to see where I could plant one.  There’s no room in our front yard, which has been taken over by a giant, wide-spreading maple tree and an ornamental apple tree.  There was no room in the back, either.  Jim was less than keen about planting a magnolia even if we had room – he pointed out the masses of sad, brown petals covering the lawns after the trees shed the blooms.  They aren't the nicest reminder of the beauty that was. 

So, I will enjoy the magnolias that adorn other people’s yards and be thankful that others love them and plant them, and I’ll let everyone else enjoy my ornamental apple when its time comes to blossom.

Blogging is Hard Work

When I first decided to write this blog, I thought it would be easy.  I had this idea that I would sit down every other day or so, write something quickly and post it.  I had things in my head I wanted to let out, and this blog would be where that happened.  Turns out my head may be emptier than I thought.

I sit down sometimes, computer on lap, fingers poised on the keys and ... there I sit. I have thoughts and ideas, but I'm finding that they are harder to articulate than I imagined.  Either words fail me, or I wonder why anyone would want to read about this or that particular thing, or when I start to write I go off on a tangent.  I find I also have a habit of seeing both sides of things, which leaves me stuck without a clear opinion to write about.  

Some pretty signficant things happened this last week:  Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan and the Conservatives got their majority government in Canada while a couple of parties were decimated.   Why am I not writing about those things - they are important. 

I have hesitated to write about either of them because I have very mixed feelings about one and very strong feelings about the other.  As far as the shooting of Bin Laden goes, yes, it's a good thing that he is gone and the world may be a safer place for it, but I have trouble with the idea that one country believes it has the authority - legal or moral - to deliberately hunt down someone they consider an enemy and kill him.  I'm still sorting through this one for myself.  I recall that when I read the headline that he had been killed, my initial reaction was "can they do that?"  I'm still wondering. 

Then there's the Conservative government majority that came out of the Canadian election this last week.  I have very strong feelings about it, and people who know me know how I feel about it, but I don't want to start spouting politics here.  I'll just say that, in my opinion, a conservative majority is bad news for Canada, and it was a sad day when it happened.  However, my philosophy for most things - good or bad - is "this too shall pass", so I'll just have to suck it up for at least the next four years.   According to a pollster I heard this past week, I may have to suck it up for the next eight years, which makes it a little harder to digest.

I find it interesting that I have talked about two significant events from the week and whittled them down into just a few sentences, yet last week I blathered on about food endlessly (or so it may have seemed to some).  I think it is obvious where my interests lie.  That, plus food is not at all controversial, where politics and world events can be.  I am, when I write, consciously trying to not offend.  Is that dishonest or just considerate?    I like to think it's the latter.  I am Canadian, after all; we don't like to offend.