View from a Country Workshop

The contrast between the intense activity inside this workshop and the idyllic beauty immediately outside the workshop doorway is hard to believe.

My picture framing workload has increased to the point where I need computerized equipment and an employee who spends several days a week helping me get Floyd Custom Framing to the next level of efficiency.

Even so, I still spend 12 hours a day doing all of the myriad tasks that need to get done.

So it is a treat to look out the workshop door and down the serpentine gravel drive to see Gretchen chatting with neighbors down by the mailbox.

This is a like a Norman Rockwell illustration. Kids on bikes, dogs nosing about, women chatting and neighbor Tom King taking photographs of the impromptu gathering.

This is one of the moments I envisioned many years ago when corporations began shifting from comfortable offices to vast cubicle mazes and statistics began replacing accomplishments. This one brief shining moment validated all that Gretchen and I did as we transitioned from corporate life to self employment.

We work as hard as we ever did, but the rewards are immediate and we can stop and chat with the neighbors when the opportunity arises.

We are immersed in projects and deadlines, but we are surrounded by natural beauty and good friends. Who could ask for more?

This is the good life. It was worth all of the effort it took to get here.

Comments

[Girish]

Congratulations. 12 hour days and if you're still enjoying it, this must definitely be 'it' for you. That picture of kids in the garden just evokes memories of my younger days, when I was the kid outside unaware of the toiling at home. After reading many inspirational blogs of transition like yours. I did move out of a comfortable desk job 7 months ago. But I'm still far from reaching that elusive state of satisfaction you mentioned, I'm sure its a matter of time.