Saturday morning as I was climbing out of my car at the park I distinctly heard the sound of a helicopter. At first, I couldn’t quite find it in the sky but then located it as it made its way close to a power line along the path. There was some sort of bungee cord attached to the helicopter and John and I laughed wondering if someone was jumping out of the chopper.

We started our run and within minutes it was clear that this helicopter was how power line workers were getting on site and also getting equipment brought in and out. All this extraordinary activity stopped us in our track. As I have a fear of heights I squealed as I watched a worker lifted off the tower and carried roughly a half-mile as the crow flies to their worksite on the ground.

I pondered just how many milliseconds it would take before I peed down my leg out of sheer terror. Then we watched in awe as the pilot continued to retrieve items from the work site with a line extending from the chopper. It was a needle-threading unlike anything I have ever witnessed. Within in a few minutes it seemed the show was over and our run continued on.

But the show wasn’t over. About an hour later as we were headed toward our run’s end the helicopter was back and so were the workers and back and forth the pilot made trips with people, equipment and all the while it was a tightrope act.

One wrong move as the pilot laced the line descending from his aircraft between power lines and it would’ve undoubtedly spelled trouble for everyone including himself. All these guys are depending on each other to be on their game or its serious.

And sometimes I think my job is stressful?? This felt intense just watching much less being the one in the job. As we ran by at the end we could hear the workers talking and laughing with each other. Just like it was any other workplace but clearly it was not.

I can’t help but think it was the kind of inappropriate laughter that stress can elicit when you are so scared you laugh. Wait, maybe that was me who was so scared. They all seemed quite relaxed.

So this morning if you wake up and think, “I hate my job.”
“This job is the worst!”
Ask yourself, are you 30 feet in the air on a pole that could electrocute you at any moment? Have you been dangling from a cord attached to a helicopter? Is there a chance you could fall from an extreme height to your death?

No? Maybe our Monday isn’t so bad after all.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,

Lowi & G