Getting ready for work is not like it used to be. The dress code is gone. No ties or collared shirts. I really don't have to shave every day.
But I still have to show up to work. And my job now is life. Living. And sometimes that is hard work.
This has felt like a new job since I retired. It is not easy doing whatever I want to do every day. I often do not leave the house, but I must get the job done — the job of living, that is. Showing up is the most important part of the job. That is the thing about life: It keeps chugging along.
I work with a good crew that is centered around my bride of more than 40 years, three sons, a close family and good friends. I could not do this job of living without them.
You might wonder why I see this job of living as a relatively new thing. Well, I did not think about it much until recently. Now I see the need to pay more attention to some of the little details of the job.
I tended to ignore them more when I was busy growing up and earning a living. Little details like how I treated school and learning, friendships that have come and gone, what I said to other people — or did not say or did not do — and how I fed and maintained my body, an important tool for this job.
My list of such details seems to be growing now as I concentrate on them more. I understand better now that the 9-to-5 was a routine. Life is the real job.
I'm Lonny Cain, and that's my perspective.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
