Job Description

    Every so often at Colby Community College, faculty were asked to update their own job descriptions.  As I was out watering the garden tonight, I started thinking about writing my current job description . . .

    Position Title:  Janis Lussmyer, Early Retiree

    Duties:  The position is completely full-time:  24 hours a day, seven days a week.  (Eight to nine hours of sleep each night plus optional midday naps are included.)  Basic duties, many of which are listed below, can be divided into seven areas.  Each subset of duties is equally important and more than one is often carried out simultaneously,  especially regarding the relationship of number seven to the other six categories.

1. Household Helper:  Prepare daily lunch and dinner for mother and brother.  Provide high-calorie snacks, particularly Tillamook ice cream, in the evening for Mother.  (Restrain self from eating ice cream every evening.)  Do laundry for all persons, plus towels for indoor cougar cage.  Assign folding and sorting of laundry to Mother.  Perform basic household cleaning duties as needed.  Answer all questions, especially the repeated ones, patiently.  Water the garden each evening after dinner and be sure to sample ripe fruits and vegetables.  Surreptitiously deliver items to trash can or compost bin as needed.  Perform grocery shopping duties for both households. 

2. Caregiver:  Oversee prescription medications and vitamins for mother and for self.  Post written reminders of where I am and when I will be back each time I leave the house.  Suggest showers when forgotten.  Check on Mother and bring her beverages every hour when she is working outdoors.  Make medical appointments and take her to them, except for the vitreo-retinal specialist appointments in downtown Seattle—those should be referred to brother for everyone’s highway safety.

3. Writer:  Stop to write whenever an idea presents itself.  If no ideas are forthcoming, write anyway.  Post regularly to blog, submit monthly columns to church newsletter, and make hard copies of everything.  File by month in notebooks.  Take frequent walks, especially on the beach, for inspiration.

4. Musician:  Practice concert and alto flutes daily, mornings preferable.  Attend weekly flute lessons and be prepared for rehearsal schedules and performances for Enchanted Flute Choir at First Reformed Church, Tradewinds and Chancel Choir at Whidbey Presbyterian Church, and Silver Tones Community Band at the Oak Harbor Senior Citizens’ Center.  Try to remember to sing alto, not soprano (which is too high, anyway) in church choir.

5. Mother:  Use free minutes on cellphone to speak at length with son and daughter at least once a week.  Listen well and refrain from giving advice.  Give daughter instructions to hug her husband and her son for me.

6. Grandmother:  Be prepared with picture prints at all times.  Share freely and often about my wonderful grandson with anyone within shouting distance.  Make trips every three months to Oklahoma to see him. 

7. Contemplative Christian:  Cultivate relationship with the King.  Come into His Presence with praise.  Read and pray and write every day.  Repent and rejoice often.  Joyfully participate in church fellowship, worship, and ministry.