Thankful

Years ago at a bachelor's party a group of the participants were gambling.  I wasn't.  One of them asked why I don't gamble.  Other than the fact that I don't like the risk of losing money, I shared my main reason:

"My job.  I get my highs and lows everyday I'm in the classroom.  I don't feel a need to search for excitement or thrills on the weekend."

A couple of weeks ago one of my buddies was in town visiting.  We got to talking about exercising, what types of things we enjoy.  This is a guy with whom I played high school and college football.  Like many former athletes we miss the camaraderie and level of competition that come along with a sport like college football.  It's a high that's tough to replicate.  He said, of his morning workouts, "There's not many times that, like sports, I can get so 'in the moment' where I'm not thinking of anything else.  My morning workout is about as close to that as I can get."  My reply was that I get that everyday in my job.

I'm so thankful that I don't have to search for that.  I rarely feel as though I'm going to work.  There are days I'm so inspired I get goose bumps and there are days I'm so emotional I'm brought to tears.  And when the weekends come I usually want and need to get away from it.  And I'm thankful for that.  Because on Monday I get to do it all again.