Well, Davis was eligible to retire on Monday.  So, on Tuesday morning, the alarm clock went off at 5:50 a.m. and he sprang to his feet and headed straight for the shower.  He shaved, put on his dress pants and button down shirt, and ate a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats topped with a handful of blueberries while watching the news.  Then, at approximately 6:45, he got in his truck and drove to his office where he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a seat at his desk.  Just like he's done every day for the last 32 1/2 years.  That's what you do when you have almost put one through college but still have a 15 year old who will soon need a car and will be in college in a few years.  Yes, you go to work the day after you're eligible to retire.     

Ok, let me stop and clear something up here.  Davis is 7 years older than me, ok?  I am much, much too young to retire......just so you know.  Seven years isn't a big deal when you're grown but we always laugh about how it would've been a pretty big deal at some points in our lives like, say, if he'd asked me, a fifth grader, to his senior prom.  Or if I'd taken him, a 23 year old, to my junior year homecoming. Yes, at some stages of our lives, our love would have been illegal and would've landed Davis in the slammer but, thankfully, we didn't meet until much later when we weren't prohibited by any law.  I was 24 and he was 31 when we got married.  I graduated from college and had just started my first job about the time he was transferred here with his job which landed us in the same single adult Sunday school class.  The rest is history and now we are all straight on who's retirement age and who's not. 

Anyway, getting back to his retirement eligibility, I was thinking about how much of our lives we spend at our work.  When we're 18 or 19 or 20, we all pick what we want to do with our lives and we head off in that direction to achieve it.  And for most of our days, we get up every morning and go do what that 19 year old decided so long ago.  Sometimes, we love what we do and can't picture ourselves doing anything else.  Sometimes, we change course along the way and take off in a different direction.  And, sometimes, we just want to go back and smack that 19 year old in the face.      

We sit in our office or cubicle or whatever, day after day, using the same stapler and looking at the same clock. Our picture frames are periodically updated with new photos.  We've seen a half dozen office coffee pots come and go during our tenure.  We have our little place in the break room refrigerator where we always keep our lunch and drinks.  We've eaten our share of birthday cakes and signed our share of cards.  Dropped quite a few dollars in the funeral spray donation basket.  Bumped up the thermostat when we couldn't take the menopausal women's freeze another minute.  We've wrestled with the toner.  Screened a few calls.  Broke down and washed the unclaimed Tupperware that's been in the sink for a week.  We sign for packages and stand at the fax machine and ask if anyone could spare some binder clips.  Everyday, we show up to this place we call work.  The building where we spend a large chunk of our lives doing what it is that we do.   

We probably spend more time with the people we work with than we do with most anyone else.  We know the ones who won't care if we use a little of their flavored creamer and those who will surely take notice.  We'll donate sick days to anyone who really needs them and we know they'd do the same for us.  We'll buy Girl Scout cookies or wrapping paper or just about anything if someone's kid is selling it.  There are those you can hear all the way down the hall.  Those you can always count on.  Those who make us laugh.  Those who are missed when they're out.  There are the hormonal.  The grumpy.  The serious.  The aggravating.  The helpful.  The tardy.  But, we're all on the same ship moving in the same direction.  We cover for each other.  Disagree with each other.  Laugh at each other.  And befriend one another.    
                                 
Work is where some of us are living out our dreams and some are just paying the bills.  Could be a stepping stone or maybe it's the destination.  Our position could fail to meet others' expectations of us or it could be that it's beyond anything they imagined we could ever accomplish.  It either makes us we feel good about where we are or where we're always looking for a way to escape.  For some, it's an all-consuming place.....unable to think of much else.  For others, they just want to do enough to get by.  It can be a defining place for us or just a paycheck.  A calling, a natural gift, or a learned trade.  It can be a place of satisfaction and a place of frustration.  It's where we show our character.  Our loyalty.  Our work ethic.  Our values.  It can reveal who we are.....and whose we are.
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I'm not sure that Davis would retire right now even if he could.  He's one of those deranged souls who loves to work.  But, I think even more than that, he loves having a place where people are looking for him every day.  A place where he knows what he's doing and what his purpose is there.  It's a reason to get up and a motivation for the day.  It's a mission field.  A circle of friends.  A social outlet.  A place of belonging.  A sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. 

It's a place where he's needed. 

And isn't that what we all want?  Just to be needed.

So, Happy Retirement Eligibility Day to you, Davis!  Have a great day at work, dear!