Monday, May 7, 2007

The Ultimate Career

I was reading Maren's blog today, and came across a wonderful quote from C.S. Lewis: The home is the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose, and that is to support the ultimate career."

As you may know, Rowdy is in Iraq, working as a radiation safety officer. The point of him taking that job was to further his career prospects. It seemed like a good idea at the time--taking his nuclear medicine knowledge in a new direction, getting work and life experience, having adventures, making a packet of (mostly) non-taxable income. But the reality of it is that he's miserable. It's disorganized, his boss doesn't seem to know how to teach him the ropes, it's dirty, and there are obvious hazards (see Ultra Rowdy for pictures of the aftermath of a RPG attack). And mostly, he really, really misses home. Home, thankfully, equals me. My husband misses me. And I miss him.


Normally, Rowdy looks like this:


Well, he doesn't usually have a rubber lizard hanging out of his mouth, but he's usually very smiley. All of his pictures from Iraq look like this:




very grim, his brow furrowed, and in this one, he's holding a piece of shrapnel. I hate seeing my sweetheart like this.

So, I am happy to report that Rowdy is working out the 90-day probation period and then coming home. We both really feel that this job was something he needed to do, or he wouldn't have gone in the first place. Hopefully, he will have gained whatever experience or performed whatever tasks he was sent over there to gain or perform.



There were some things that I expected to do while I was here on my own that won't get done in the next two months and one week. Without the extra income, I don't feel justified in buying myself a drum set, for one thing. That will have to wait. The thing I really wanted to do is lose ten pounds. But I've only lost one in the last two weeks--don't say that I've gained muscle, because that really isn't happening. Oh well. Maybe I'll have lost five pounds by the time he comes home. I'll be happy with that.

So, when Rowdy gets back, he'll need to figure out what he is going to do for work, but he has definitely learned over the last month that home is indeed the ultimate career.

3 comments:

Amberly said...

I'm sorry Rowdy had to go through this miserable time, but I love that you see that it has it's purpose. I hope he gains all he needs to and gets home quickly and safely. And I'm glad you will be reunited with your baby, because you're happier with him too, I can tell!

Anonymous said...

Ok, I need to clarify a bit..
1. I can handle the danger and inconvienance of living in Iraq.
2. I'm smart, and I get a better handle on my job each day. Not easy, but I am getting it. On my own though, so yeah....
3. Yeah, money won't be the same now, but I also didn't have a job lined up when I would have originally left here anyways..
4. I really miss D the most. I just want to actually be with her more than anything. And thats a fact. It is also 97% of the reason why I am coming back. The other 3 each get 1%.

It does stink to look at pictures of me, I am never smiling and very somber. It is weird to see. You could't find a pic of me like that from before here. Even in my hospital pics I am smiling! haha. I like to smile!

So yes, end of July I will be home.

tenacious d said...

I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't figure your job out, Dear! You've just been so negative about it the whole time. The danger and inconvenience of Iraq bother me, so that's why I list it as a reason why it's good you're coming home.

My Rad Life!