Sparks Flew

Another Thursday and, again, I felt lazy this morning and not overly anxious to get to the office. The sunrise run with the pups was a bit slower and a tad longer than normal. The espresso, savored throughout the cup. Shaving was a royal ritual. Nothing I did rushed me towards the office. Including the path to work. As, I left the house I followed the river a bit and blipped a rusty bridge. Then, I joined the path of the new train line being built between Saint Paul and Minneapolis, dreaming of the day where I could pretend I lived in a big city again. A walk from the house, a coffee on the platform and a mindless transport to the insanity of my office.

I bobbed and weaved around the construction zones like a soccer player en route to the net. As I approached the University of Minnesota, I noticed that the city was building an elaborate train station of delightful design. It is narrow but tall, perhaps four stories. Newly assembled steel formed the skeleton of the edifice and men and women were at work to make it strong. Torches glowed and sparks flew as steel was joined to steel. There were several dozen at work, likely since sunrise, and it all looked quite normal. My eyes finally shifted to this fellow. And I watched him climb the scaffolding with the ease of a spider. As he looked down, and back, he chuckled with his brethren on the ground. Thirty or forty feet he climbed with his welding machine in one hand and his tool bucket in the other. At his apex, he set foot to a six inch wide i-beam. He crossed along the balance beam like a gymnast without an apparent morsel of concern or fear. Yet with every step he took, my stomach became more knotted. Never in a million years could I or would I do what he has done despite the safety lanyard strapped to his back. The fall, or the thought of it, fatal or not, froze me solidly to the ground below.

As he reached the point of his horizontal destination, he set his device to his left and his tools to the right. In between, he gracefully lowered himself to a near prone position and lit his torch. With a mighty glow, beams were joined. His form seemed artful and, given his meticulous methods, I could only believe that the structure he was building would last generations and provide much to many.

I went along to work, setting my sights on conference calls and spreadsheets and financial models and other people's money. I wondered if, five years from now, anyone but me would know what i did at work today. And I thought to myself, today, who provided a more enduring amd memorable labor?

Thank you all for a glorious blip week. Wow, all I can say is, Wow!