It’s days like today that make me really love my job.

I don’t know what I’m going to do when our company dissipates. I’m trying to picture a scenario in my head that even comes close to the work environment I have right now. I’m failing.

I’m using my degree. That’s first and foremost. I got a degree in something I love, and, luckily, it pays. I spend my days running reactions at a lab bench, wearing a lab coat, solving problems, and contributing to a project that could eventually be a cure for rheumatoid arthritis or cancer or heart disease.

I work with people I like. They have senses of humor. They understand sarcasm. And while we are not all 100% compatible in real life, we get along damn well in the lab. We joke about Bieber. We have “hypothetical question of the day”. We talk about workplace inappropriate things at lunch, and in the lab while we are getting shit done.

I have the Best Boss. He is a boss that can make things Happen. People listen when he speaks because he is smart and almost always right about what we should be doing or what direction our project should be heading. On top of that, he trusts me. He gives me a general direction to go, but lets me make my own decisions on what to make. And when I challenge him, he listens, whether I am right or not. He also understands that work is not the Ultimate Thing.

Today, for example, and the reason for this post, my boss declared that at 3, all work for the day must be complete because we were going on a field trip. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going. He wouldn’t tell me why. At 2:50 he was at my lab bench telling me that I better be done in 5 minutes.

My boss. The guy who is supposed to keep me working.

We left. Ten minutes later, we were at a bar in Cambridge. They were filming a documentary that had something to do with the Boston music scene. He knew I liked music, and especially the Boston scene, so he made sure he brought me along. We watched Jesse Dee play a couple of really awesome songs. We were filmed, since we were right up front. We drank a couple of beers. Then he made sure I got to Porter for my normal train. My boss.

I’m really, really going to miss this job when it’s gone.