Saturday, July 15, 2006

Appreciation



We had a barbecue lunch at work yesterday, an effort to thank the 450 or so men and women who are toiling in the heat and the rain, lifting, toting, welding, painting, running conduit, fitting ductwork, putting down flooring and finishing drywall to get the building ready to turn over. The numbers are staggering - if you laid each piece of drywall that's been put into the building so far side by side it would cover more than 20 acres. Over a hundred miles of wire. 26 thousand cubic yards of concrete - enough to cover 5 acres of ground 3 feet deep. And untold tons of paper. With about 4 months to go we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyway - here are a few more shots from the cookout.....















The past two years here in Key Largo have gone by mighty fast in a lot of ways, and in some ways Denver seems a lifetime ago to me. I'm still up in the air about what to do next. Right now I'm still treading water with the JOB, and every time I think about what to do next my mind wanders through so many adventurous possibilities that I get kind of a daydreamy brain freeze. And sometimes, out of the blue, a feeling of panic comes up and I feel like something big is passing me by. Mid-life crisis? Crisis of conscience about sticking with a job where money's really the major motivation? I do get some satisfaction out of putting these projects together - they can be interesting puzzles, you know. I just think about all of the other things I could have done in the last two years instead of this and wonder what if.......

Planning for the future isn't something I've ever been good at. My course through life so far has for the most part been guided by a combination of colossal mistakes and spur of the moment choices, and although I've had too many occasions to feel the whipcrack of shame about some things I've done, I've also been lucky enough to have met and made friends with some really good people and had some great adventures. I've done a few things that I'm proud of. Along the way, I think I've started to develop an appreciation for what is good and important, so maybe the next adventure, whatever direction it takes me, will be one that brings a little bit more satisfaction.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see what the future brings, huh?


No comments: