Just Another Day at the Office

Just Another Day at the Office

Titus Gilliam

In another life, my weekdays would begin with a very reassuring predictability—coffee and checking email in my corner office of a downtown San Francisco office building. Ever since leaving that life, I have struggled to find a similarly comfortable cadence as that routine supplied for kick starting a morning.

Take a recent morning in my current “work life”. It was starting a little slower than usual--truthfully, no one seems to notice if I am still in my PJs while checking email in the morning as I was doing on this morning. We received a call. A semi-truck load of wood would be arriving shortly. With a quick scramble to get everyone dressed and fed, the truck pulls in just as the first bowl of cereal is poured.

It was early enough that our “real” employees had not yet arrived for the day. Two year old in tow, I grabbed a pair of gloves and headed out to help unload. The morning is refreshingly crisp and there is a sense of excitement in the air. The boys are thrilled to have a semi-truck show up in their back yard. The lumber turns out to be better than expected. This wood had a previous life as part of a spud cellar in southern Idaho (ironic-huh).

The excitement ramps up even more as one of the bundles is not perfectly balanced on the forks and starts to tilt. Thankfully, Morgan shows up and takes over my immediate job of stickering the bundles and guiding the skid steer.

I stop for a moment to appreciate the site of a happy two year old sitting on Dad’s lap as they operate our skid steer tractor, affectionately named by me, Felix-The-Cat—after his brand, Caterpillar.

I take a moment to visit with the driver—everyone’s story is interesting. He is from Jordan Valley, Oregon and has been on the board of the historic Jordan Valley, Big Loop Rodeo.

Every day is an adventure.

Reclaimed Lumber Product’s most underappreciated employee—with five acres of lumber, there’s lots of mousing to be done!

Once unloaded, I am back in to finally get that cup of much-needed coffee. As I take a sip, I reflect on my morning. My days are not near as glamorous or orderly but are definitely very rich and full of adventure.

Fully caffeinated, I am off on my next “TO DO” for the day—company lunch—a shrimp boil. It was so much fun. Just sweep away a little saw dust, pour out the shrimp and dive in.

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