The topic on Flaming Hot this week is “it’s the little things.” The little things are why I love my job so much. I try not to take it for granted that I can just wake up on a Tuesday and decide to just take off and go into New Orleans, or the gulf beaches, or just out to lunch and never think twice about it.
Prior to settling here in Louisiana, we sent 4 1/2 years traveling around in the RV, working various jobs and lampworking. I will never forget the one day about six months into our adventure, standing on the beach in Pensacola, FL on a Tuesday, with our toes in the surf. It is one of the most rememberable days ever. Greg and I were standing there enjoying a glorious November day, when he says to me, “What would we be doing right now if we hadn’t quit our jobs and hit the road?” Easy answer. Working a very long day. They were decent jobs, but not anything I would be excited about going back to. I will never forget that feeling of freedom I felt right them. Almost a guilty pleasure really. I knew how lucky we were right them and I still do.
I am all but certain that if we had not made the decision to travel the country, we would not have made the decision for both of us to be full time glass workers. It changed us and our outlook. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love getting up at whatever time I wake up in the morning. I love doing all my work from my home computer, not having to get dressed before I start my day. If I am sick, I don’t have to call in to someone who may or may not be understanding. I love how my life is all on my time, not someone elses. I can hop a plane and go see anyone without worrying about how to get time off. Even though we have settled and now have a house payment to make, I feel just as free as I did that day on the beach in Pensacola.
All of those perks aside, I do love my job. I love the way the glass melts in the flame. Even if I am just pulling stringer to start a project. Melting glass is a world in itself, where everything else is blocked out. It is mentally consuming, in a way that blocks out the rest of the world and all the issues in it. It takes concentration even when I am doing something so familiar, I think I could do it in my sleep. The nature of this, is that it is a great place to be when there is something on my mind. Whether I just need to let something go, or mull it over, or come to terms with it, torching during those times is a great gift.
As I write this, I realize this got a little deeper than I planned. Are these really little things? Maybe, or they may be great giant gifts. Either way I am grateful. I do love my job, even the computer work. Shhh, don’t tell Greg I said that, even though I bet he already knows it.
