Night moves

Another great day in the northeast and I am sitting in the car outside a preschool as Tink has another interview. I drove her to keep her nerves at check and help her to find it. Naturally, we got lost….my fault….she remained calm….I started praying to St. Anthony for directions.  We found it after a bit of trouble and she is now being scrutinized as a possible candidate for the job. Oye! When does it get easier? What if she gets the job and hates it? Then what? Does she start all over again and find a career and education that she wants and has a passion? This leads me to ponder where and how people develop their passion for things.

For example, when we were in San Antonio at the Alamo, there was a gift shop (naturally) and I went in (naturally). There was a large glass enclosed table that had hundreds of little soldiers for sale. They weren’t toys. They were collectibles and people were buying them by the handful. Let me tell ya….they were not cheap. So, why are these people passionate about little soldiers that are not toys? Don’t they know that they do not actually fight and they collect dust? 

 

Another passion that I ponder is one for ice fishing….really? You drive onto a frozen lake, use a chain saw to cut a hole in the ice and with no electricity or heat, a person sits on a chair and fishes. These people have to be cold and cannot start a fire or their trucks and little cold shacks will fall into the lake as the ice melts under them. And therefore, I think…why? I can see them coming home that night: "Honey, I am home. I caught a snapper and pneumonia.”

Another occupation that I really wonder about is sword swallowers in the circus. Why? Why would anyone want to place a sharp object into their mouths and down their throats? The phrase “Cat got your tongue” could actually be accurate with any kind of accident. What if he sneezes while the sword is in his throat? Then what? Call EMS, I suppose. The circus probably has them on speed dial.

 

Furthermore, a passion that has me puzzled is wanting to be a clown. I guess that I am staying in the circus mode. Be serious. Clowns scare most kids. Unless you are a sadist and want to see kids crying, then stay away from a life as a clown. How about jugglers who throw chain saws? Really? If my kids came to me at the dinner table and told me that they wanted to juggle chain saws for a living, I would have thrown a net over their heads and placed them in a padded room. 

 

My last vocation or passion that I will ponder is school bus driver. I doubt that I could ever drive a bus with little kids for myriad reasons such as screaming, hitting, biting, and developing the ultimate headache. I can see my nerves frayed as I try to deliver each precious gem to their bus stop. What if I closed my bus and there was a sleeping child in the back? I think I could lose my job or go to jail for that one. 

And so, I don’t want a profession or passion in which I could lose my livelihood if I forget something important like a sleeping urchin. I want a profession that is challenging, enjoyable, and fulfilling. I also need something positive to get me out of bed each day. I remember my waitressing years and when I had to work the breakfast shift, I would almost need an ejector button to propel myself to get up in the dark. To this day, I remember how hard it was to get out of bed. I even remember the song that the radio played during these years….it was ‘night moves’ by Bob Seger. When the radio went on at 5 am to wake me, I would hear…’blame it on the night moves…uh huh…night moves….’ My body would convulse and my head explode. To this day, when I hear this song on the radio, I get a physical and guttural reaction. 

Hmmm…this was a long post….now it is time for me to work on a few projects. 

Hasta La vista, baby!

From Bob Seger's Night Moves....

Workin' on our night moves
Trying to lose the awkward teenage blues
Workin' on out night moves
In the summertime
And oh the wonder
Felt the lightning
And we waited on the thunder
Waited on the thunder

I woke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off I sat and wondered
Started humming a song from 1962
Ain't it funny how the night moves
When you just don't seem to have as much to lose
Strange how the night moves
With autumn closing in