You can call it a coincidence, and/or stretch it a bit and label it irony. What I happened to read after my own particularly trying day, on my daughter's Facebook page, brought a smile to my face, as it most often times does. Her sense of humor never ceases to amaze me....I love how she stumbles upon very interesting and tilted views of the world, and makes them her own. I continually find that we share similar opinions regarding what occurs around us on a daily basis....hmmm...I wonder how that has come to be???
At almost the exact time today, we both must have been feeling a bit closed in by our surroundings and circumstances...she made reference as follows...
"today's silver lining: just measured my office and am now thankful for the extra 24 sq ft that I have in comparison to the average prison cell"
I, on the other hand, had a strangely similar prison related thought today, under the guise of my 8 hour workday. Not having had a conversation with Stacey pertaining to either of our current work situations, how very odd we both arrived at the same conclusion on the same day.
To give you an idea of where I am coming from...try this on for size and then let me know how you feel...
1. Scan badge
2. Proceed through gate
3. Enter building
4. Sign in
5. Retrieve box
6. Sit down
7. Remove handful of folders from box
8. Remove items from folders
9. Remove staples from items
10. Sort items
11. Return small portion of items to folder
10. Stack items
11. Repeat from No. 8 above, repeat, repeat, repeat
12. Stand up with sorted items
13. Walk to scanner with stacked items
14. Load stacked items into hopper
15. Push buttons...repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat
16. Replace items in original folder
17. Return folders to original box
18. Repeat from No. 6 for 8 more hours....
Yes, we had a break for lunch and I did occasionally stroll over to the junk food table to grab some candy....and yet, my routine felt exactly as automated as it sounds. Going through the motions reminded me of 30 years ago when I worked at a candy factory in Germany to earn some extra spending money around the holidays.
Just when you thought my job sounded so interesting and exciting (well maybe you didn't, who really knows for sure????), I've been tasked with a project, along with an ever-rotating group of co-workers (misery loves company), to leave our otherwise comfy surroundings and travel to another location, a few days each week.
While standing in front of the scanner midmorning, I had a vague feeling of what it might feel like stamping out license plates in a place of detention. However, it wasn't until I found myself outside the building during our lunch break, and I happened to glance up and noticed the fences were topped by barbed wire, that I finally said out loud..."yup, I'm in prison."
So, with my trusty IPhone tuned into my favorite Pandora station, and my earbuds securely settled close to my completely numbed mind...I continued through my work day. If not for those tunes dancing in my head, and my toes tapping to the music, my brain would surly have exploded before the 8 hours were completed. I do not seek your pity, because let's face facts...I have a job....I have a job....I have a job....and consider myself very lucky to be able to repeat that phrase to myself and to just about anyone who will listen to my crazed words.
It has been a very long time since I have spoken on behalf of either of my children, however, it's not only a matter of how close to the tree those apples are falling...I know for a fact that there are no small office walls or barbed-wire fences that can completely hold back the imagination of either of these two women, no matter where we happen to physically be each day in our lives....
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