My Dream Job

This is a video I secretly recorded today of some guys doing my latest dream job.

I had to go by the house to pick something up and, as I pulled into the neighborhood, I saw their truck headed toward our house. For two weeks I’ve been adding to a big pile of brush out by the road in front of our house. Earlier this morning I topped it off with a big branch that had fallen into our yard overnight.

I ran inside and made myself a chicken salad sandwich and grabbed a bottled water. I also grabbed the video camera. I set up the camera by some rocks near the road (but out of sight), then I sat on our front porch steps and waited. I could hear the truck stopping and starting down the road, getting closer. Finally it arrived. How cool…

I say this is my dream job simply because it appeals so much to the guy side of me. What could be more cool? What could be more fun than driving around town all day picking stuff up with a big claw? Plus you get to ride on top of the truck and wear a hard hat!

Perhaps it’s because I spend so much time as a rehab director sitting at a desk doing paperwork, running reports – day in, day out. Plus as a speech therapist working in nursing homes, I spend an inordinate amount of time pulling gunk out of people’s mouths. Maybe I need more adventure in my life.

Anyway, I sat there on the front porch watching them like a little kid at the circus, or maybe like a teenager at a rock show – completely enthralled. The guy who had been working the crane climbed down to take his turn driving (so the other guy could do the fun part for awhile). At the very end of the video you can see him, the driver, waving at me as they drive off.

I bet they have forty-something guys like me sitting on their front porches eating chicken salad and feeling envious all the time. They're probably used to the attention.

I wonder if they need a weekend substitute crane operator? Hmmm...