Some moments in life feel like they are straight out of a movie: your first day of high school, summer nights with your best friends or driving around in the car with the windows down. These are moments when you feel extremely blessed and grateful for the life you have. For me, where I work is one of these special gems.
When I decided I wanted to get a summer job, I knew exactly where I wanted to work and what I wanted to do. I wanted to work at a place where I could interact with others, see my friends, learn a lot from the experience and enjoy my very first real job.
I am so grateful for where I work, and I never expected to love it as much as I do. Work allows me to interact with customers and have friendly conversations about the most random things, challenges me to be my best and work my hardest, and always puts me in a good mood. For me it is a place where I can catch up with my best friend after a busy week. It's a place where my family comes in to eat and I can participate in a Saturday family night, even though I'm at work. It's a place where I have a boss who gives advice like he's a guardian and coworkers who have become my friends. It's a place where I feel welcomed, respected and cared for every time I'm there.
As I think about my future, my career in writing and journalism, I wonder about the jobs I'm going to have. I know I can't always be as lucky as I am now, but I don't hope for luck. I hope to work in a place that holds the same values as the place I work now: hard work, dedication, kindness, family and respect. I hope to work at a place that makes me feel glad that I am there and that makes me feel useful, like I am truly part of a team. I want a place where I can make friends - good people with whom I can share stories and laughs. I want a place that makes me feel, when I come home at the end of the day, like I have learned new things and have done my very best.
I know life is not a movie, but I also know that there's no shame in holding onto the moments when it feels like one. In a few months I'll be going off to college, and it will be the small things, like the special place where I work, that I'll miss most.
So for now, I am going to hold on and enjoy each movie moment that I get, for as long as I possibly can.
- Katie Hughes of Hinsdale, a senior at Nazareth Academy,
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