Taking Stock of Successes

It's not unusual at work for me to have a day where I marvel at what my professional life has brought to me.  Some days, the marveling is along the lines of feeling lucky.  Other days, I mutter, "Grad school did not prepare me for this."  Yesterday was a work day that brought many joys.

Because Fridays are usually quiet, and because a friend was in the area at a different school getting ready for the new term, I was able to meet her for coffee.  It was great to catch up.

Later in the afternoon, the Director of Admissions and I went to a local ice cream shop to hammer out a deal for our ice cream social that the Davie-Cooper City Chamber of Commerce is holding to raise money for education scholarships (our school is a member of several Chambers, including this one).  We tasted spoonful after spoonful of homemade ice cream so that we could narrow down our selection to 6 flavors.

I know, I know, it's a tough gig.

I finished the day by composing an e-mail in response to a request that I send a list of all the charitable/benevolence activities that our campus has done in the past year.  I was amazed at the length of the list. 

When I'm creating a food drive or when I hear about students administering in a health screening or going to a wildlife rescue center to assist, I'm happy.  When I see the complete list, I'm thrilled--especially because I often wonder if our campus is doing enough to give back to the community.  It's certainly plenty, of course, to do a good job educating students and giving them a chance at a better future--but we have resources to share beyond that.

As in many areas of life, it's good to take stock occasionally and to realize that we're doing more than we may think.

I finished the day by coming home to our lovely new floors, now stained to a golden color, shiny with the polyurethane protection.  After a supply run, we finished the evening by sitting on our front porch, watching the rain as the day ended--a satisfying end to a satisfying day.