When I'm 99

As I was stuffing wet laundry in the dryer yesterday, it occurred to me that I have taken on another job that I can never quit.

Not the laundry. The day will come when I will happily quit that job – I may be 99 when it happens, but it will happen!

Not raising kids – I signed on for that knowing it was 24/7 for the rest of my life. Though I’m well aware that someday, if I do my job very well, my kids will be taking care of me [and hopefully doing my laundry.]

Not the office job. I tried to quit that and my own insecurities and my boss’s sudden ability to increase my salary, combined to keep me on the payroll. Once again, it’s possible I may be increasing my hours at the job I quit, in order to cover for another employee who may be leaving.

Of course the job I’m talking about is writing. It occurred to me that this is something I can never give up on. Good, bad or indifferent, I’m in this for the long haul. I can picture a time when perhaps my success is such that I can gleefully announce a summer-long sabbatical or schedule mandatory vacations from the creative process in order to recharge my batteries, but I can’t picture I time when I’ll announce my retirement or turn in my red pens and printer cartridges and throw in the towel. It just won’t happen until maybe I’m 99 – but since I won’t be doing laundry then, I’ll have a lot more free time to write…hmm.