Things I've learned while on vacation.
I've been on vacation for the past week. An 'at home' vacation, meaning I didn't go anywhere, but I also didn't work. And by 'no work', I mean I relieved myself of all responsibility having to do with anyone other than myself. It's been great.

I haven't specifically taken much time in the way of reflection this week, and that was somewhat intentional. I had great plans at the start of the week to gather my thoughts, make a clean purging of all things bitter and oppressive in regards to my old job, perhaps journal about it, with the goal of refocusing on better things, improving my work attitude in time to start my new job, and hopefully also being more at peace in general. I've been a tightly wound ball of stress lately, I'm sure not the most pleasant to be around.

Plus, I have some bad habits and attitudes built up about working, developed during two years of going to a job I hate everyday. I need to start a new job with a better attitude and better habits.

But, instead of taking intentional amounts of time to sit and work through this, I decided (or rather opted by accidentally not doing it) to not make my week a grand, official, transition week of regrouping through any sort of formal system or whatever. I instead didn't think about much of anything. I took a break. And I think that was best. I tend to over-think things and stress myself out even more. So I opted to entertain myself in other ways. Not to avoid the issue. But instead to let a real, honest to goodness break work it's magic. It's been great.

It's amazing what taking a momentary lapse from most responsibility can do for you. If I wasn't such a responsible person, I could really get used to this. And that would be bad.

So, the 'break' was one major part of my week. I really needed it. It's been good.

In addition to the 'break', I have done some things and learned some things. I caught up on some projects. I watched a lot of tv. I spent some time with friends and family. And here is some of what I learned:

- Dawson's Creek is the most prolific and brilliant show ever on television. Sure, it's over as far as new episodes. But it comes on TBS not once, but TWICE every weekday morning. I cannot express how excited I've been to stumble upon this hidden treasure. This alone is enough to make me want to not work ever again. Or at least not work until the afternoon. I've found that the Creek gang and their teen angst is not so unlike adult angst that I see mirrored in many of my own relationships and situations. These kids are very wise. I implore you to rediscover The Creek. All of the answers are there.

- No matter how many home design shows I can watch during any given day, it's not enough. And no matter how alike they all seem, I find them all extremely fascinating. Even if I hate what they did to the room. I can't get enough.

- Children's television shows make absolutely no sense whatsoever, yet I can't seem to change the channel when I click by one of these shows. PBS is the best example of this. I found a show the other day that was nothing more than a lady wandering through a field following a strand of yellow yarn that was wrapped around trees. At the end of the yarn she had knitted herself a sweater. She put the sweater on, then the announcer said 'a yellow sweater'. And that was it. Today the same show had these five different colored, people-sized, furry blobs dancing around. Then there was a five minute 'skit' involving three people trying to make it over a brick wall that was too tall. No talking. Just wall and people. The announcer said 'a brick wall, it's too tall.' Then the blobby-guys came back and danced more. What is this?? Yet obviously I watched enough of it to give a recap. I hope kids get it. Because as a genius adult-sized person, I was completely lost.

- Being on vacation is the universal sign to the weather that it's time to rain a lot. The first five days of my vacation were completely soaked. I intended to gradually work on my tan this week, as the sole purpose of having a backyard is to have a place to layout without having to pay for sun, or have people see me lay out. But all I could do for most of the week was sit inside and watch it rain. Now that the sun has been out for a few days, I've tried 'crash tanning'. This has only resulted in yet another oddly shaped sunburn, which will then turn into an oddly shaped tan, then peel.

- Being home during the week provides a unique insight into neighborhood activity. Most people are working this week, which is strange to me since I am not working. Typical neighborhood things continue to take place as usual. Such as, the debris picking-up truck. This is the truck with a giant crane arm that comes down the street and picks up the large tree limbs and other debris that people leave out on the sidewalk to be taken away by the city. I had no idea how this was done. But now I do. Because I watched this truck through the window for a good thirty minutes one day. It was at this point in time, as I sat in my pjs, in my chair, by the window, with my coffee, that I realized I'd become the 'old lady who watches out the window' in my neighborhood. I blame the rain.

- Accomplishing at least some projects during time off is good. I managed to spray paint my patio table, transforming the look of my patio into ..... a patio with a different colored table. I learned through this adventure that if you stand down wind from paint that is being sprayed, the paint does, in fact, get on you. I'm pretty sure I wore as much of the paint as the table did.

- Feeding myself three times a day is hard. My previous job at the homeless shelter supplied free lunch everyday. This was a 'perk' of working there. I had free lunch for 2.5 years. Suddenly this week, lunch does not magically appear for me. I've not known what to do with that. I was reminded of a 'game' my sister and I used to play in highschool. She would come find me in the house somewhere and ask me what she wanted for lunch. Naturally I didn't know what she was in the mood to eat. So I'd throw out a few options (pb&j sandwich, macaroni and cheese, apple, lard) until I hit on something we had in the house, something she thought sounded good enough to eat, and that was also simple enough to be made by a teenager that was hungry NOW. I acted annoyed with it, but I miss it. It was one of our 'things'. I found myself this week wondering what I wanted to eat for lunch, but had no one around to tell me. Lunch is hard.

- When my friends take actual vacations where travelling away from me is involved during the same week when I am not working and I have a ridiculous amount of free time with which I could be playing with them, I miss them. It takes some of the fun out of not working when others are working for my friends to also not be working, but not here to play with, and in places more fun and exotic than where I am in my house.

- The only thing better than soon being allowed to wear jeans on Fridays at my new job is to wear t-shirts and shorts Monday through Friday. I plan to make this happen eventually at my new place of employment. It's only a matter of time.

I start my new job tomorrow. I'm completely freaked out. I'll be freaking out for at least a month or so. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the new job. But new things and changes always take me awhile to get used to.

I'm glad I took this week off. I needed the break. And these valuable lessons.

C.T.