Do you do what you love? I'm curious. When we're kids, we daydream and pretend to be the things that fascinate us most. I recall vacillating between being a ballerina, writer, doctor, and singer. I know for sure I never dreamed about toggling between computer screens, analyzing teeny fields to see what changes each time I do something to a file.

While suffering last night's midrange insomnia, I started to watch Angels In America. I missed the first 15 and last 35 minutes, but was mostly mesmerized throughout. I didn't necessarily empathize with the characters, but I found them fascinating. And while I didn't really feel for the character of Joe, the Mormon married guy who was trying (and failing) to be straight, I could apply that sentiment to everyday life.

The fact probably is that very few people get to do what they love for a living. We're lucky if we can like enough about what we do (the pay, the people, any perks, seniority) to make it worthwhile. When I started with my company, I worked in one of our stores. The money was awful -- maybe a quarter of what I used to make, with no perks other than a discount. But I was good at what I did, and the people became a family to me. When Danny was born, two of the salespeople visited me in the hospital not even 12 hours later, with flowers and lovely thoughts from everyone at the store. When we had his bris, almost my entire store came (as frightened of the concept as they were). It was incredibly touching. Then, when I got a promotion to our corporate headquarters, people were amazing to me again. Some of the folks at our warehouse even sent me cartoons depicting them all crying because I was leaving.

So now, I have a job that pays better (two-thirds of my former salary instead of a quarter), and a little privacy (a cubicle instead of a shared office on the salesfloor), but I do miss the companionship and being a master of my work domain.

Does anyone have it all? If not, what are the pros and cons of what you do, and how do you feel about it?