Endorphins

Yesterday evening along with approximately 60 other co-workers both past and present we gathered to celebrate the career of our college Ron Berezowsky.  Ron worked with Forestry for 33 years I do believe.  Many kind words were spoken about Ron, many stories were told some that I had heard before and some new ones.  Ron had many kind words in return for his co-workers as well. 

At some point in his career Ron developed a liking to "SHEEP"....that's right you read it right - sheep!  Some say this was from his days working with the Grazing program some say it started after a trip to New Zealand.  I my self think New Zealand was a big part of this new found liking.  At every branch meeting "sheep" found their way into Ron's presentations from introducing new staff that recently joined the branch to giving an update on what his unit was working on.  Even at other retirement functions sheep were sure to find their way into the evening....so now we couldn't say farewell to our friend without keeping up with the tradition of --SHEEP-- for Ron this was not ordinary sheep presentation; the organizers arranged for a baby lamb to be brought in as part of the festivities for the evening.  This little fella was so excited to see Ron that he piddled on the floor.  Ron was able to feed this little guy a bottle of milk which the little lamb loved.  It was the perfect way to wrap Ron's time with us.  I do have pictures of Ron and the little guy but last night by the time I got home and packed my lunch for today I was too tired to take them off the camera.  I will post some photos from the retirement later this weekend.  The lamb was absolutely adorable.

In Ron's response to the email messages from past Forest Service Directors that were unable to be in attendance, from the open Mike and from the messages delivered by Andrea (the MC) on behalf of the branch he spoke about endorphins.  Ron spoke about how a simple "Good Morning" was a build up of endorphins and when the "Good Morning" was reciprocated it was like a double double from Tim Horton's - twice as good and twice the endorphins.  I had never thought much about a morning greeting being like that but this morning I was more aware of those endorphins and Ron was right.  As I was walking into the office, the security guard met me at the door and held it open for me (not a usual practice either, timing was good on my part) and we exchanged "Good Morning's" and that felt good along with a small bantering back and forth...by the time I reached the stair well I felt really good inside, like a light was shining brighter inside me.  I thought it must be those endorphins Ron spoke about last night.  Something that happens on a daily basis but is often taken for granted more often than not.  Those first greetings in the morning can set the tone for your entire day.  I have never thought of those simple greeting as something that raised your endorphin levels....until now.