The Day Off

This week hasn’t been a good one.
Oh, nothing terrible or dramatic happened.  It wasn’t a bad week.  It was just one of those weeks that start out with a sort of bitter attitude toward life and work and everyone and everything that brought you to this particular moment in this particular spot (hi, our team was the only team in the company working on Monday) and finished off with the feeling that you were never truly able to escape the funk.  Like there was a part of your brain that’s been sleeping for a week, maybe it’s in a coma, and no matter what you do, you can’t wake it up.

But Friday, yesterday, I was signed up for a free PTO day that we earned, um, in March, and I guess somebody was watching over me when I was inspired to sign up for June 4th because I NEEDED YESTERDAY OFF.  Everyone kept asking, “what are you going to do with your long weekend?” And my answer was always, “I don’t know yet!” But I did know, I thought.  My plan was to sit on my couch and be in my funk without a single person prodding me to meet goal or figure out their problem or laugh hysterically from behind me at some joke I’m not in on because we haven’t had desks for two weeks and OH MY GOD TOO MUCH.

I woke up yesterday with a splitting headache, right in that part of my brain that had been asleep all week.  You might find that weird, but I’m telling you.  The exact part of my brain that was on vacation came back in full force with a massive hangover.  Probably out partying without me.

I medicated with water and sugary juice and caffeine and ibuprofen.   And I didn’t end up sitting on my couch.  Not much more than I normally do, anyway.  I mean, I guess the first thing I did was catch up on Chuck (OMG Nico we need to talk) but since I have to curl up with pillows and blankets on the floor of my office to watch that on Hulu, I never count that as vegging on the couch.  Not the same.  In between episodes I made fruit smoothies and pancakes from scratch and played a little piano and looked up this song and listened to it over and over and over (and over) and pulled out my ukulele and made lunch and made dinner and went shopping and hit Hobby Lobby looking for inspiration and found it and oh my GOD.  I was awake and alive and when I texted one of my best work friends and asked, “Miss me?” he said, “YES – but no one deserves a day off like you do.” and I thought, “Don’t know if I deserve it but MAN did I need it.”  I needed it.

I remembered how much fun it is to eat when you can look at your cupboards and create from whatever’s there, when you have the time to actually enjoy what you’re eating, when you have the time to enjoy preparing it rather than worrying about what else you have to do tonight or how tired you are or who else needs the microwave when you’re done.   It was so nice to just have a day, whole day, to never be bored and do exactly what I wanted exactly when the whim struck me.  To sit in the sun and read a book and drink my coffee iced.

I have the classic, much sought-after Weekend at my disposal EVERY WEEKEND.  I didn’t for a long, long time, and all I wanted was a weekend.  And now I have it.  And I wouldn’t give it up.  If I ever have the choice, I will NEVER go back to working Saturdays and Sundays, EVER, unless by some lovely chance I’m working from a tour bus and a stage.

But sometimes the weekend isn’t quite enough.  Usually it is.  But not always.

And my June 4th came at just the right time.

How do you unwind, take it easy, and wake your brain up?  Tell me.