My Dream Job

I always thought my dream job was writing books. Bah! Books-shmooks. This is my real dream job:

SYDNEY — Position: Island caretaker. Duties: Lazing around Australia's Great Barrier Reef for six months. Salary: $105,000.

Unemployed, take heart — the aforementioned job ad is for real. Billing it the "Best Job in the World," the tourism department in Australia's Queensland state on Tuesday said it was seeking one lucky person to spend half a year relaxing on Hamilton Island, part of the country's Whitsunday Islands, while promoting the island on a blog.

The "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, soak up the sun, snorkel the reef, "maybe clean the pool" — and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.

I could do that! Better yet, I'd be good at that. Can I stroll white sands? Check. Soak up the sun? Check. Snorkel the reef? Hey, I love snorkeling! And what's this about reporting to a global audience? I do that every week! Okay, so my audience is made up of five of you (hello, my peeps!)--I'd be willing to expand my horizons. ;)

Life's too short, methinks. Of course I love my husband, my kids, my real job (hopefully my muse hasn't left me because I just dissed her), my sweet community, my extended family, etc., but I'd love to do something crazy. Like go on Survivor, live in a foreign country long enough to learn the language, go back to school for art or photography or journalism or politics or law, take off on an extended mission trip to the farthest corner of the earth... Or apply for a job as a beach bum. I love life, and I can't help sorta liking the idea of reincarnation. Can't I have another go-round? There's so much I want to do.

How 'bout you? Are you in your dream job? If not, what would your dream job be? Maybe they'd take a group of us and we could all spend six months soaking up the sun... Email your resumes to nicolebaart@yahoo.com!