On a recent flight to Vision Expo, one of the hosts, a young man in his twenties, was so exuberant, he couldn’t contain his excitement of being on the flight. I overheard him tell the hostess, with whom he was working, that when he received the call to work, at 12:05 AM, the scheduler commented that he had never had someone be so excited to be called in to work.  

During the flight, I had the opportunity to ask him why he was so excited, and what he liked so much about his job. His name is Noah, and he rattled off a list of things including that he has always loved airplanes, airports, luggage, being on planes, and even the smell of jet fuel! When I asked him the downside he simply said, "When I have to go home."  

The interaction I had with this young man made me wonder about how different the optical world, or any profession, for that matter, would be if we all approached each day like Noah does. To be transparent, it should be noted that he has been in this job only 11 months.  

Do you remember the excitement and probably nervousness most of us had when we first began our journeys into the profession of optics? Do you remember measuring, then measuring again, and then asking a coworker or supervisor to double check your accuracy? How about when the glasses were finished and you dotted up the lenses, held them up and measured the PD which was spot on? Or the first time you had the privilege of fitting someone’s child with their first pair of glasses, and seeing the child’s face beaming and perhaps a little tear in the eye of the parents?  

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