Skinny jeans – almost, Who you spend time with, Making up the difference

I have recently lost weight so I understood when a co-worker was very excited about being able to fit into a pair of jeans he had not been able to wear for a couple years. He was made even more proud by the fact that he had lost the weight while quitting smoking. You have to admit there is a certain level of accomplishment to doing those two activities concurrently.


So we were all congratulating him on his success while he rolled a chair over to sit with us. As he sat down the jeans ripped all the way up the back from the right hip pocket to the belt line. They were older jeans after all.

I have worked shift work for over twenty years. Most of the shifts have been twelve-hour rotating shifts. During the longer stretches of consecutive shifts, I am able to spend very little time with my wife and kids, let alone anyone else. I go to work, work my twelve, and then go home to sleep, only to get up the next day and repeat the process. I spend the majority of my time with the people I share the shift with.

I am not complaining. I like the guys I work with, but I love my wife and kids. So when I am off, I try not to fill the time with things I have to do, but rather with things my wife and kids need to have done. I rarely do things by myself when I am off. I use every excuse to be with my wife – which she actually appreciates – whether it is grocery shopping, running to the Post Office, or any number of errands, we go together.

I try to postpone things I need to do until later in the evening, after other things are done, or during her nap time.

I will not always be working shift work. I will not always be gone so much. I will not always be this busy or preoccupied. When I am home more, I do not want to be a stranger in my own home. I do not want to retire to a family that is secondary to the “family” I have at work. I have seen that happen too often in my line of work.

My employment is my avocation. My life outside of my employment is my vocation. There is every expectation that employment can change, sometime unexpectedly. My wife and kids will be with me through that change. Even friends will change as life decisions move us from one job to another, or geographically, as we move from one area to another.

My best friend, my wife, will be with me. I know the depth of her commitment. I just want to make sure it is something fun for her rather than an all-out test of that commitment.

Enjoy your companions at work, it is only practical, but live for those who will be with you long past this transient portion of your life.