I Have A Job

I have a job.

Some days it is to lie on the ground underneath a Japanese Maple tree in autumn and stare up at the indescribable red that has invaded each and every leaf.

I have a job.

Some days it is to stop and watch a street performer or musician’s act in its entirety, shake their hand then thank them with what was to be my lunch money.

I have a job.

Some days it is to wash, dry and fold my clothes as if I were doing so for my personal hero.

I have a job.

Some days it is to commit to memory a Yates, Rumi or some such poem, then recite it to the ones I love with the preface, “I learned this in honor of you.”

I have a job.

Some days it is to clean and vacuum my automobile of all the dog hair and sand from our trips to parks, woods and beaches, while being thankful for the inventions of cars and vacuums to chauffeur such honorable guests.

I have a job.

Some days it is to strengthen my understanding that just because others said no, doesn’t mean I have to quit believing in my personal yes.

I have a job.

Some days it is to take off my socks and shoes and walk barefoot in the high grass, trudge through slick, slippery mud or jog over wet, hot sand and then  - pick a favorite.

I have a job.

Some days it is to go and buy colored chalk ~ then use it.

I have a job.

Some days it is to suck up the helium from a balloon then immediately change the message on my answering machine.

I have a job.

Some days it is to hand write an appreciation letter and mail it to my best friends instead of sending an e-mail or text.

I have a job.

Some days it is to sit and imagine a scene in my head where I am face to face with those I believe are the perpetrators of my greatest grief and hug them  ~  hug them hard until each of us exhales all the pain and jointly inhale a new beginning.

I have a job.

Some days it is to show up and participate in an activity I've long resisted, just to remind myself that the things I resist only contain as much power as I give them.

I have a job.

Some days it is to realize that I am contagious – that when I smile at another, chances are high they become infected and smile back.

I have a job.

Some days it is to sit still with my sorrow or dance feverishly with my joy.  Some days it is to contemplate and accept that both are equally important.

Yes, I have a job.  It is to deepen my ability to cherish every moment - to label myself as conscious, kind, competent and grateful ~ to never take for granted that I breathe the same air as everyone else. It is to stand up and move forward after every fall ~ EVERY fall.  It is to understand that the quality of my life is predicated on one great law, that I am greeted everyday by the companionship of my belief and that I can altar anything by altering those beliefs.

Yes, I have a job. It is to love all life. It is to love my life with every fiber of my being.

© 2009  David Ault