Today I was riding in the boat back to Park Moabi after a long morning of marsh bird surveys and was struck by just how grateful I am that this is my job. I thought to myself that I should take note of this. Because there are days when I am not grateful for my job. There are days when I'm a zombie because I work insane hours (yesterday), days when I have bug bites the size of golf balls, or days when things go wrong and I work a really long day. But still, I have a fantastic job. When I'm out in the field I am often having a ton of fun. For the most part I get along really well with my coworkers.
Today I finished my banana and didn't turn around to hand my coworker my peel. Just reached my hand back knowing that he'd put my peel where it was supposed to go and him or I would take care of it when we got back to the dock. He mentioned that we must have some sort of familiarity with each other that I can hand him a banana peel without looking or saying a thing and he'd know what to do. Seems like a silly thing, but one that I am grateful for.
I am grateful that every spring I look forward to wildflowers blooming, spending a week on the river waking up too early and going to bed too early but seeing the sun rise over the water every morning. I am grateful that I get to experience ALL the sunshine and that it fills my cup to be outdoors and that I get PAID to be out there. I get to eat at really great restaurants, workout at a gym on my schedule and do far too much reading.
I know I'm lucky. Really I do. On the weeks when I'm in the office, I'm so grateful for a week in my home but I'm always looking forward to a bit of a break in the field as well. The view below is my office when I'm in the field and I know it could be a whole lot worse.
