In A Freelance World

Today, I returned to the place I have been working, after a few days away to do another gig. I am still a freelancer, after all, so staying busy, eyes and ears open to new things, is important.
 
When I walked in, I was welcomed like a long-lost family member. People had missed me when I was gone, and they were happy to see me back.
 
One of the the things about which I worried when the soaps (ABC or Connecticut) ended was that I would never again find the kind of camaraderie that I had enjoyed for so long. The nature of soap schedules and soap hours (and, of course, the number of years that I spent there) made for close connections. It was, to borrow a phrase, the kind of place where "everybody knew your name." Would I, in a freelance world, be simply an anonymous worker who got the job done, but left at the end of the day or the end of the job, no more attached than when I started? How would that feel, after so many years when I, the person, not just the worker, mattered?
 
I have certainly had a few jobs where I was largely just a worker. The job began and ended, and while LinkedIn connections may have been made, emotional attachments really weren't. I realized today, however, that there can be attachments again, perhaps when you least expect them. Even as a freelancer, you can have places where you really matter, not just as a worker, but as a person too.
 
I will remember for a long time the welcome back that I received today. There are connections--attachments--to be found, even in a freelance world. I am grateful to have found some of them.