Today when I woke my 13 year old son up for school, he responded as quickly as possible with “I’m up..it’s all good..” so that I wouldn’t flip the light switch on or start singing “Good Morning, good morning, good morning…. it’s time to rise and shine,” which I do just to drive my kids absolutely crazy and make sure that they are awake. (My best friend in third grade had a mother who would do that all the time and I know from experience the nausea which this exercise can bring on, making it the perfect way to wake up your child.)
So today when I heard “I’m up…,” I had an immediate flashback to my second job after college. It was a small marketing firm in an older two-story building, with a somewhat winding staircase and my boss’s office right at the top. My boss and I got along so well that I actually worked there twice, the second time after a stint in corporate America which still gives me night sweats.
At any rate, I’ve always been well known by many as rather uncoordinated and one who moves faster than I should (I’m fast and uber efficient, but I used to scare at least one person a month with my near fatal accidents.) At least a few times at this job when I was running up the stairs quickly, I would somehow trip at the top of the stairs and fall, catching myself with my palms on the top step, looking up straight into my boss’s office. I can still picture the smile on his face, once he was accustomed to my graceful ways. (Clearly the stairs had some sort of defective design flaw.)
Needless to say, my dear boss (who has passed since – that’s a whole blog post in itself for later) knew me well enough to be amused by my coordination and grace, or lack thereof. And every time it would happen I would immediately say, out of embarrassment, “I’m up… it’s all good.” I would then smile with a nod, my boss would choke back the laughter and sometimes wink, and we would be on with our day. It still makes me smile to remember his facial expressions of amusement over the years when I did goofy things.
Today I’m grateful for my flashback to the best place I have ever worked and the best boss I ever had. He was a mentor to me, and I learned so very much from him.
What mentor are you most thankful for?
life on wry 
I’ve had many great bosses (lucky that way) but I hear you on night sweats and the stint in corporate America. My all-time best office overlooked the Santa Monica Pier. Not that you asked that, but now that I work from home I am a bit nostalgic about office space.
I’ve been most fortunate to have some great bosses in my life but I think the Top Ace is a general I used to drive for while in the Army. (Now that is another post, hmm, yeah).. he took a skittish 21 yr old and taught me many life lessons..
On a side note, I too sang a nauseating rendition of “Rise & Shine like a biscuit”, over and over till the kids dragged themselves out of bed: they hated it then, they love that memory now 😉
That’s a great story and a great question. I may have to blog about it.
This post gave me a flashback to my last boss. He was a wonderful man. A bit like a father figure for me. He was passionate, imaginative and focused. I loved his encouragement and always including me in on decisions.
Thank you. I am glad I thought of him today.