Good Day Sir

I usually spend all day writing a blog in my head and then when I get home I put pen to paper.

I mean fingers to keyboard.

But not this time.

The blog I had planned all day is being put on the back burner.

Instead you are getting a side of me that many of you have never seen before.

An off-the-charts happy, smiling from ear-to-ear, good things happen to good people, optimistic side that I have not felt in several years.

If ever.

I am typing as fast as I can because if I don’t finish this blog by midnight, who knows what will happen.

The source of this sudden burst of elation is my return to the working world.

I just finished day two of my new job and as Ronald McDonald would say, “da da da da da, I’m Loving It.”

Just like any relationship, the beginning is always the best.

The first date.

The first kiss.

The drive home after the first kiss.

Then the kids come and everything goes to hell.

Ok, back to the happy guy.

I have completed two whole days in the new job and they have both been fantastic.

Well day one was fantastic and day two was even better.

Ok, calm down, yes, I do realize that two days do not make a career.

But coming from where I came from, being happy is something that I couldn’t be any happier about.

This job has made me feel alive again.

I feel rejuvenated.

I feel respected.

I feel relieved.

And any other positive word that begins with the letter R.

I have no delusions that this feeling will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Honestly, I just hope its still there in the morning.

As I headed home from work tonight I spoke with a couple of my bestest buddies over the cell phone.

And let me tell you, my day was so good, AT&T only dropped one of the calls.

Now that’s amazing.

Both of my friends have been with me since college.

They were with me before my career, during my career and in the two years after my career died.

Tonight, both guys spoke with a friend they haven’t spoken to in a long time.

Oh, we’ve had calls.   Plenty of them.

But not like this.

I did most of the talking, sharing as many details as I could about how my week has gone.

They both told me that I deserve to be happy.

They both told me how excited they are that I am feeling so great.

And if they are so excited, just imagine how I must feel.

While I was out of work, I had dreams that this day would come.

But those dreams never came.

Well, not for me.

After everybody was let go from my last job, the shock and pain hit us all.

Hard.  VERY hard.

But one-by-one, the good people who were treated so badly found new work.

And one-by-one, they moved on with their life.

And one-by-one, they spent more time talking about tomorrow instead of yesterday.

I didn’t get that opportunity.

Until now.

During my two years on the bench, I had a couple of jobs that came my way.

Not job offers, just possibilities.

But none of them panned out.    And honestly, none of them were right.

This job is right.

At least 48 hours in, it feels right.

And that’s all I’m thinking about.

Honestly, I’m not thinking about in two weeks or in two months or in two years.

I’m thinking about now.

Right now.

And I feel good.

And that feels great.