Questions

Today was my first day back at work. It was nice. My souvenir gifts were well-liked and someone left a Christmas gift for me on my desk (a box of chocolates). Boss asked about my vacation and told me about his. He also started me on working on something new. Now that I'm full-time, the book work will not be enough to fill 40 hours each week, but there is plenty to do.

He knows that I am taking my courses online and asked how many credits I'm currently taking. I told him "16" and he said, "And working full-time? What are you, a mutant?" I think it was a compliment.

Then we had this philosophical conversation. Boss is pretty cool in that he is really interested in people. Not just in how they perform for the company - of course he cares about that too - but in general. I remember he asked me during my interview, "What is the hardest thing you've ever gone through?" and I found myself telling him about my father because he was so... I don't know... interested. It wasn't superficial.

So anyway, he walks over to my desk and asks me these questions:

"What are you going to get your Master's in?"
"What do you want to do with your life?"
"It's your 80th birthday party and everyone's there. What are they saying?"

Not in rapid succession, but we had a conversation about it. Really made me think. I told him that I would want them to say that they had gained some insights from my writing. He was like, "Insight into what?" and I said, "Life."