Workin' for the Weekend

This may be a short post. Believe it or not, I am grasping for words this week! Yes, even I occasionally run out of words.

Loverboy once that "everybody was workin' for the weekend". I wouldn't disagree with that statement for this particular week, but I found myself reflecting on what was keeping me so involved and immersed in my tasks at work? I often find mundanity in being tied to one place doing the same thing over and over. This internship does not even scratch the surface nor hint toward being a repetitious excursion of photography and marketing in the remote Minnesotan woods. The driving purpose of working for a non-profit has been such an eyeopening experience. I know that I could never work for "the man", driving capitalism, working for sheer personal monetary gain. I love the environment of working for something bigger than you. It just so happens this specific example is working for the health and well-being for over 100 cats of all sizes, along with doing my part to use our platform to educate our fan base about the captive wildlife crisis and how we can all do our part to end it.

Besides work, which was much more "normal" when compared to last week, the sense of community is the other thing that is so prevalent. From the book Slow Church by C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison, there is a line that reads "Christian hospitality compels us to welcome all strangers, regardless of how they found their way to our door or how long they plan to stay" and if that is not the social experiment that is an intern house then I don't know what is. We all came as strangers. From every corner of the country. And now we have community, a true form of love at the group sense. When the day is done, having the comfort of a group with homogeneity of schedule but diversity of thoughts, ideas, outlook; now that is an act of love when we can all come together and get what we need to recharge our internal batteries. And I mean come on, look at these awesome people!!! (Missing a couple though)

So yes we were working for the weekend. Burgers, hot dogs, veggie kabobs. Americana in a meal, with the ambiance approved by Uncle Sam himself. The grill master was yours truly, along with preparing the post work snacks, considering it was my day off and the rest of the house worked in the 90 degree heat all day. Here is a subtle flex of my charcuterie spread:

One day after work this week, I got behind a paint truck and took a road less traveled. And by less traveled I mean literally less traveled. A dirt road that connects highways and runs through the town north of Sandstone was the perfect post work release of energy and tension of work. Minnesota never disappoints for little gems of beauty that you just have to go and find. These farm silos break the patches of Minnesotan farm ground and stand in stark contrast to the towering pines that are always nearby.

Take the road less traveled, build some community, work for something bigger than you. But most important, do something that fulfills you, scares you, and recharges you this week.