Besides writing, I’ve taught university in classrooms and/or online for years and love it. Sometimes my sons or grandchildren have attended my classes. I love what they absorb and our conversations after. When my youngest grandson was four, he came with me to a college Christmas party in a home displaying a new gorgeous stainless steel refrigerator-freezer unit that dispensed both water and ice. Highly impressed, he wanted me to have one.
“They’re expensive,” I said.
Eyes sparkling, he had the perfect answer. “Garbage men are well-paid. Get a job doing that.” Had I been in the wrong profession for years?,
Garbagemen, or sanitation engineers, or discard removal artists are specialists in their fields. Recycling and waste management have become environmentally important and financially rewarding. I did not dash out and take a second job at my grandson’s suggestion.
Years later I bought a big shiny stainless unit at hefty discount because of a fist-sized dent in one side. That grandson, then eight years old, had discovered vocational options. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll learn welding and patch it.”
The odd thing is the Hardware store’s delivery truck rolled and burned. Backlogged in deliveries, they finally rented a giant Penske truck to transport nine units. They probably organized drop offs by locations. Mine arrived swathed in plastic. After the men left, I started unwrapping, expecting to find the large dent. Perhaps I could put the dented side toward a kitchen counter and it would hardly be seen—but I found NO DENT.
The store never called. I’m sure they made it right with the buyers receiving the damaged goods, but I was thrilled to tell my grandson no welding was needed. It was as if God had punched out the ugly dent. I enjoy that outcome every day.
Garbage collecting became a desired profession in my grandson’s eyes to afford needed items. At times, we rank some professions above others based on word associations. The vast field of waste management and recycling is acquiring nicer terms and euphemisms based on the increasingly important roles they perform in society today.
Thankfully, I’m still writing and teaching and afforded a classy stainless steel freezer-fridge. My grandson and I are equally thrilled
What about you? What nicer job description makes you feel better (or worse) about any profession?
Love your grandson’s choice of vocation for you. 🙂 Enjoyed the post!
Thanks, and thanks fore reposting!