Let's Hear It For Mundanity!

The ho-hum.  The everyday, boring, routinized little life most of us lead.  It's dull, it makes us dull, it feels most of the time like it doesn't matter at all. 
Ah, but our mundane little routines and chores keep the civilized world going.  We all depend on each other more than we realize in this modern world, and if any of us were to go missing, it would make a difference, and not usually for the better.
I often suffer bouts of self-doubt and self-pity, thinking myself a victim of my choices, of always taking the easy way out, the path of least resistance.  My life is pleasant, even fun and fulfilling sometimes, but it is not what I once dreamed of.  This life is harder work than it looks like.  And it DOES matter. 
Getting up every day and doing what needs to be done is NOT easy, no matter who you are.  There are days when you'd rather give up, just stay in bed. It matters that you do get up and go, it means that your little part of civilization keeps working right, your coworkers and friends will have what they need from you, and will be better able to do what they need to do for others in their turn.

I know that my coworkers matter to me, so do our customers.  Life would not be the same in this town without them.  My friends matter, my loved ones.  I matter, even though I never really thought so before.  I always thought maybe people just put up with me to be nice.  Never occurred to me that I do give something back. I love my coworkers, and our customers, and I guess it shows. 
My boss told me recently that he noticed one week when I was gone, how morale and the overall mood in the department was down, people were gloomy and groused at each other.  He couldn't figure it out.  Then I came back, and he said there was happy noise again, and people were laughing and talking again, back to normal.  I never thought I made that much of a difference, but I guess I do.  (Or it could just be that when I'm there, I make sure the candy and snack jars get refilled...)

The kind of job I have is full of routine.  Certain tasks must be done every day, over and over to keep things running smoothly, to keep giving our customers access to the information and services they need.  It can get boring, feel like drudge work, but it is important all the same.  Finding little joys along the way makes it worthwhile, and working with the public, there are always little joys.  Seeing the kids come in who aren't such kids anymore, the ones that have been coming in every day since I started working there, just about.  Seeing all the new families come in, all the older folks,too, it's hard to describe how much it means to me to be part of a community like this, to help care for our community.  Our library is a community treasure.  A storehouse of wonderful things that belong to all of us.  I am one of the keepers of that bounty.  It's a big responsibility.  And a great joy.  When you find just what someone is looking for, when you can unravel an account problem and make everything right again, that's when routine tasks pay off.
I'm going to be off again for a few days.  Going to celebrate my Mom's 90th birthday with her and all my siblings, all together for the first time in probably 30 years.  I'm going to miss Matt a lot, and my library family, and my church family, because those are all people that matter  a lot in my every day life.  I have friends online that I won't have to miss as much thanks to smart phone technology.  I will still have my Facebook friends and my Tweeples.
Next time you have to do something you've done a thousand times before, and you are irritated by it, try remembering why  you do it.  It helps sometimes.  Especially when the person it helps is someone you care about, when the life it makes better is your own, or when, on rare occasions, you get to see that what you do every day can put a smile on a kid's face.  We ALL matter, we are ALL  important. 
I'll see ya when I get home. 
Peace,
Katie