Christmas Countdown 2023 …. Day 22

I have pondered at times what it would be like to have a life long career like my husband and many of my friends have had. I think about how it would be to log in years and build up a history working in the same place. Sometimes I think about how I would have made my desk space my own and how it would feel to manage work time and home time. 

My experiences of working are so different from Russ, and there was never much I could offer as counsel to him regarding office politics, personalities and such. But when he was getting ready to retire, he talked to me a little bit about something for which I possessed a fair amount of knowledge. 

How do you leave a job?

As he told me his concerns about the reality of officially announcing his time frame for leaving the company he had faithfully served for almost 40 years, I listened empathetically. I told him that it’s uncomfortable for both sides of the coin. It’s hard to say you are leaving. There are usually questions about if you are sure and then some tears or kind words. It is, in my experience, an awkward conversation. But you get through it.

I believe I finished my dissertation with the words….”You know.” To which he responded as only my husband can that no, he didn’t know. This was the first job he had ever left. We both laughed so hard as we considered that the only consistency in my work history was leaving one job for another. 

We had the best of both worlds and we know it. Through the years, whether I was working a small job or not, Russ often told me that he could do what he did because of what I did This encouraged me that what I did at home was my “work”, and an important contribution to our family.

 I believe work is a gift from God. Even at creation, He gave Adam a “job” – to tend the garden and care for the animals. The curse was not that we would have to work but that our work would come with extra trials.

While there are strains and challenges as we work, the work we do gives purpose and meaning and offers us the opportunity to serve others. The relationships we share that are so precious and the struggles we have with personalties that are differ from ours add to the tapestry that is our story. 

I hope you have enjoyed the Countdown this year. It has been fun for me, but also a labor of love. We have a couple of more days as we wrap up this 25 day journey. I have loved having you be a part of it more than you could know <3