Backhoe Operator

By Lynn Guinn

    I recall standing on my rollerblades, on a bridge, at end of Brookhurst, in Huntington Beach and watching the construction crew building a new jetty.  I was especially interested in the backhoe operator.   All he was doing was sitting there moving two “joysticks” back and forth.  It was during the last few years when my career as a teacher was getting to me.  I wanted to trade jobs with him, OH, so bad.
 I imagined a job where one didn’t have to spend so much time solving unsolvable problems.  A job where one could be blissfully unaware that there were children being born to parents who were less capable of caring for a child than two doorknobs would be.
Joysticks back and forth… Imagine a job where you weren’t responsible for the well-being, health, education, and sometimes, complete future of so many human beings.
Back and forth…  No lives falling through the cracks before your very eyes. 
At no time would a backhoe operator’s hair stand on end from reading the Department of Human Services report on the newest feature that had been added to his job. 
A backhoe operator would never have to find shelter for someone who was being abused by her father.
 A backhoe operator probably NEVER said the words, “I think I’ll get a less stressful job, like maybe an air traffic controller or a brain surgeon.”
I finally got old and retired.

Today I operated the backhoe that my husband bought when we moved up here to God’s country.  I stayed on it for several hours.
 
 I    -   WAS   -   RIGHT!  

It is so much fun!  It is more fun than a video game.  I found out that the sticks get to move side to side as well as back and forth, and what fun!  I can’t believe backhoe drivers get paid for doing that; and probably more than teachers get paid!
Nobody’s getting me off of this machine.  I am going to landscape this place until it is unrecognizable.  Now, why did I choose such a hard job when I could have been a backhoe operator?
 I’m going to make little streams, and walls, and gardens and…