For many people summer is a great time to relax, sit on the beach and enjoy the warm weather. For me it is a time to work. Now that may sound like a complaint but it is far from it. The reason it is the furthest thing from a complaint is because in summer I get to work the job I truly love--I work in a surf shop. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my "real" job. Being a professor is extremely fulfilling, both from an intellectual perspective and from a personal one. Shenandoah is a very small school so I get to see the intellectual development of my students and feel that I am actually making a difference in their lives. But academia is not a world where I feel comfortable. As I have written before in my beautiful wife's blog, I often feel like a fish out of water. But summer is when I am able to work on something I am now passionate about and still teach.
I feel as if at age 40 everyone should get a do-over; the ability to change careers and start something new. For me, my summer job would be my everyday job. Working at Brighton Beach Surf Shop is truly a joy! Back breaking surf lessons (the part where I still get to teach), being covered in fiberglass from doing ding repairs, hanging board shorts, cataloging surfboards on the website--it doesn't sound fun or exciting for most, but for me it is fabulous. So for all of you hoping for a break in summer so that you can relax on the beach, I will take the long hours with no days off because I get to work in surf shop!
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