To tell you that I look forward to going to work everyday would be an understatement, that this fifty eight year old beat the odds and found work that I love in this economic environment so hostile to anyone older than fifty..let’s just say I’m darn lucky. Being unemployed for two years I was so desperate I would have taken almost anything just to earn a paycheck again, but I stumbled into something special.
More about that in the next diary.
There are numerous benefits attached to this job, some more obvious than others. As an animal lover I’m surrounded, as an outdoor verse cubicle person I’m in my element, all of them. I’m doggedly independant and have been mostly self employed my entire life: I check in, collect keys and I spend the entire day without supervision or anyone looking over my shoulder. I will sometimes walk up to 10-12 miles a day, add to that climbing stairs and riding my bikes during the warm months, I’m very fit and have to purposely eat to maintain weight.
The not so obvious benefit is my exposure to so many dog breeds I was unfamiliar with. In an odd sense it’s akin to a free long term test drive, seeing a dog everyday I pick up quirks and traits that are inherant in certain breeds, invaluable information that a potential dog owner needs to know before choosing a new pet.
My wife, Ms. O and I had a dog when I began working here and after eight months I had no idea this benefit would be so important so soon, but it was. Our 14 year old Black Lab/ Great Dane mix Lexie was suddenly diagnosed with inoperable cancer so we had no choice but to let her go.
.
.