a peek inside the fishbowl

20 Nov, 2007

On work and love

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Misc. life

 a visit to the range

The girls and I were on our way to the grocery store yesterday and we got to talking about jobs. Sarah has decided she wants to be an astronaut. Her reasons are:

1) floating around would be a lot of fun
2) she likes to try new and fun things
3) she wants to learn more about space

All good reasons, don’t you think?

Emma has always said she wants to be a farmer, but I think she’d be happy doing anything with animals, especially horses.

I told the girls that it’s important to choose a career they are really and truly passionate about. That life is short, and they wouldn’t want to get up every morning for a job they hate.

And not everyone is well-suited to every job.

“What if someone didn’t like to have adventures and try new things,” I said. “And wasn’t interested at all in outer space and was afraid of heights… do you think this person would be happy being an astronaut?”

Sarah was quiet. I don’t think she could fathom the idea that someone wouldn’t like to have adventures and didn’t like the idea of going into outer space.

Personally, I don’t think I would find happiness being an astronaut or shoveling horse poop. There’s nothing in that for me … although it would be cool to travel into outer space at least once, and horseback riding is pretty fun. Okay, maybe I could see myself as a part-time cowgirl and space explorer. Do I need math for that?

Today, once again, I was reminded of how much I love the path my career has taken: the variety, the learning, the challenge, the fulfillment. If I was more religious I’d say that I was blessed, but instead I’m going to say I’m g.d. lucky.

This morning I was at a military shooting range, scoping out the location for a script I’m working on for one of four videos for DND.

It was awesome. And now I’m sitting here, with my second (this is almost unheard of!) coffee of the day. It’s grey and overcast outside, but inside, it’s ever so bright.


3 Responses to "On work and love"

1 | porter

November 20th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

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You are right, you are pretty g.d. blessed….I mean lucky. Life is too short, we all gotta find happiness and I think even more importantly gratitude and joy.

2 | Robin

November 21st, 2007 at 12:36 am

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I think I felt that amazing moment of realization with you. Thanks!

3 | J.

November 21st, 2007 at 11:35 am

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I agree with you. Hopefully I get a job that I just applied to, so that I can do something that I really enjoy doing. :)

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My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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