Have you eaten yet?

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Coming back from watching Jason do a ballet recital (only boy among 11 girls) I stopped off at the local second hand bookstore.

I bought some books - pretty predictable, given that I am something of a bibliophile.

Anyhow, I was struck by a sign in the window that said, "Help Needed - Apply Within." It filled me with that eerie, yet comforting delusion of karmic opportunity. I automatically suppressed the urge to inquire then and there.

What better place to work than be surrounded with dusty old books a few hours per week (I have no idea what sort of help they were looking for, since I didn't inquire).

When I got home I called Sofia to let her know that I found a job in Montreal I would be interested in doing. After the initial silence, she asked "Have you eaten yet?"

Of course, it would be foolish ... or would it? Yes, I would be losing a great salary, health benefits, pension plan, and experience in my profession - to be clerk in a bookstore earning minimum wage with no benefits. Go from a prestigious job to one with no prestige. Sofia suggested at least working for a library.

Interesting how we chance across things in our life and are somehow irrationally taken by it - whether it is love, moved to buy the winning lottery ticket, or given a chance to take sweet fortunes preordained path. Even within me, there lurks the foolish romantic.

Image originally from here

Comments

my imperfect offering said…
One of my lifelong fantasies has been to someday own a small bookstore. There's just something about the smell of a bookstore that I find so comforting. It really is too bad that we need those necessary evils (like insurance and other benefits), particularly with having children.

Oh, and bravo for putting your son in ballet! When my daughters were doing ballet, there seemed to always be one single boy in the class. I was always so impressed with that.
February 15, 2006 2:25 PM
Elvina aka LaoNiang said…
unless money is of great issue...i feel that one should be free to pursue their dreams. working among books to me - is a wonderful job...and if I never have to support my family, I might just do it one day.

Maybe, when your kids are older, you can retire and do something for yourself. If you can turn a hobby into a job, you will be a much happier man as compared to holding a "prestigious" one.
February 17, 2006 2:59 PM
Richard said…
MIO: Putting JJ into ballet was pretty much a no brainer. The choices at his Montessori school were science (we do that at home), tumbling / phys ed (JJ does more than enough tumbling and stuff), cooking (likely it would not be anything dealing with real cooking - besides he helps me in the kitchen all the time anyway) - so that left ballet. He seems to be enjoying it a lot.

elvina: I have been rational and making sensible choices all my life - maybe I should have been an accountant. This is not a dream of a lifetime, but it was something that stirred an emotional chord in me and resonated within me. The job at the bookshop would not be a career choice, merely a stop gap until I finally manage to become more entrepreneurial. But ... can I trust myself to actually accomplish something? Or will I just dither away the time?

I just don't want to wake up one day and say "If only ... "
February 17, 2006 4:23 PM
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