Best Of

My desk is covered by things that bring me joy. Notes from people, pictures of family, awards, puzzles, and so much more. However, if I think about my favorite thing it would be the pictures I can see on the wall while I sit at my desk.

Across from my desk I have a picture of each of my grandfathers.

Top Left my grandfather who is about to turn 89 and worked as a mechanic on construction equipment until he was in his 70's. He tells a story that he used to drive to where my grandma was living in a nursing program and sleep in his truck each night. She would come out with a piece of fruit for him and he would make 2 sandwiches and eat them for dinner. That was the only food he had all day and he found it was easier to work on an empty stomach that sleep. No matter how hard my day is…it is never this hard.

Bottom Right my grandfather who died right after I was born. He worked in the coal mines after WWII. He was a medic in WWII on a campaign call Hell on Wheels. He had multiple job offers for local hospitals before he even came back form the War. He told his family he would never again operate on a young man and instead of working in the hospital spent the rest of his days working in the mines. No matter how hard my day is….it is never this hard.

I recommend framing over laminating! It will make it much more of a keepsake that you can display beautifully. (I'm paranoid that laminating things like this will somehow ruin them. I have seen colors shift because of the high heat that happens in the process and have had little bubbles pop up when laminating wrinkled papers.) Pick a beautiful mat and frame, and put it behind glass. It's precious, and I would hold on to it forever!

First time poster over here. It is lovely to meet you all. I was not aware we could make fun usernames so I went with boring and safe. If I could change it, I may change it to "Your_Royal_Flyness" since I am a pilot. :-)

Now to the question. First I was thinking my computer because without it, I would be staring at black monitors all day not doing anything. @Protonsponge - I am right there with you - I have two monitors and they are must. Then I was like…..well, that is practical and I think we are going for fun like @Ray Lindstrom. @Ray Lindstrom, have you thought about turning your son's message into a mug, tumbler, mouse pad, etc.?

I am having my ceilings in my home painted so I removed all the fun things off my desk (pipe cleaner animals my colleagues made me from three moves ago, this pretty gold and pink sand thing you can rotate and it will make different designs out of the sand, a photo of my husband and me from our honeymoon in a sand picture frame - it gets sand everywhere. I do not recommend buying one :-), and other fun things. So I am left with the practical items. The most fun I can make out of my practical items is my webcam. As a 100% remote employee that meets with colleagues all over the globe, it allows me to connect with colleagues on a more personal level and allow my extrovert side to stay full. I can change my background to celebrates holidays, events, birthdays, spring, photos I took, or keep it professional with your standard backgrounds…depending on the audience.

I have The Cage on my desk. He reminds me that I was hired because I can handle the seemingly unbearable weight of massive talent.

Also reminds me why I grind every day; because of the national treasures in the frames next to him.

When things got tough in the past, I would usually be gone in 60 seconds. But he's the rock that kept me steady and made me feel like I could faceoff with anything the day had to throw at me.