Oh, how I wish that was true!
A couple of weeks back, I realized I was scheduled to be on duty the weekend we were supposed to get away on the Pipsqueak's first real family trip. (A quick note of explanation: We're in the MD 'burbs of DC, and for years we drove to & from my grandparents' in the 'burbs of New York every weekend. We drove to visit relatives in Kansas a couple of times. We drove to Florida a couple of times, did the Auto Train once as well. Drove to & from Chicago. Flew out to Albuquerque and then drove all over New Mexico. Did Colonial Williamsburg a few times, Gettysburg more often than I can count... a drive of less than a coupla hundred miles and/or less than 3-4 hours isn't a "trip" in this family!)
As I was saying... I suddenly realized I had to reschedule. Then I realized I didn't want to work on Friday night into the wee hours of the morning and then get up early for a long drive, so I decided to take the Friday before the trip as my comp day. Then I realized we wouldn't come back 'til Monday, so I had to use a day of vacation... and then I realized August is my anniversary month, and the company would be adding the usual lump sum of new vacation days to my account -- and since I haven't quite gotten out of the habit of hoarding my vacation days ("I don't know when we're going to China so I'm hanging on to all the time I can" was my refrain for several years) I suddenly had "use or lose" time and it all added up to one of those "what the heck" moments and I
So there I was, only slightly sleep-deprived last Saturday as we set off for our cousins' farm (non-working) in the wilds of what Dad sometimes calls "Pennsyltucky," riding shotgun with AJ and the Pipsqueak while Mom & Dad alternately led/followed up I-95. (We hadn't originally planned to usd two vehicles... but did you every try renting a minivan with only 3 days' advance notice? I don't recommend it!) As expected, Miri was a champion traveler, only getting a little crochety once in a while -- but so did her mommy & uncle, since the traffic was absurdly slow almost all the way there. The weekend was pleasant and restful, and the two young 'uns got along famously. (Dude, you'd better not talk about what happened every time one of them had to share his or her toys with the other... but hey, they're two...) [Note: I'm working on the draft of a post about the Pipsqueak and this trip, it'll be up shortly.]
Tuesday was kinda blurry, since somehow "restful" did not equal "sleep" thanks to a couple of two-year-olds and (one morning) a VERY LOUD emergency generator kicking off because of a local power outage. But hey, I was on vacation, I was all good; I got some filing done & spent time chillaxin'... I even managed to drop the
Wednesday started off wonderful; we took the Pipsqueak to one of the major local synagogues for a formal mikvah conversion. She looked super cute in her little dress, and charmed absolutely everyone involved, and the lady who specializes in mikvah baths/conversions said she wants her to be their "mikvah poster child" -- the Pipsqueak's a real water baby, and absolutely loved being in the water with her mommy, triple-dunking and all! [Yes, there's a post specifically about this coming soon.] My balloon deflated a bit when the mechanic called and let me know what the shopping list of repairs was going to cost; we agreed on the two most critical (plus the oil change that was coming overdue) and I went online to make sure my credit card would survive the hit.
Thursday I spent basically trapped in the house; the work on the front end of the
Saturday was a special day (yes, there's a dedicated post on this coming soon, too!) because I had the Pipsqueak all to myself while AJ taught a class & our folks were off at a bat mitzvah somewhere. This was the first time it was just the two of us for any appreciable period of time since China, and I'm
And now, all of a sudden, it's Sunday... I was awakened by a passing storm and decided to type this post, but I plan to go back to sleep as soon as it's published. The problem is, this is the last day of my "vacation" and so far I've done everything but relax, chill out, and do nothing. Don't get me wrong; I wouldn't exchange the family time from last weekend or this past Wednesday for anything, and there's absolutely no way to quantify the value of the alone time I had with the Pipsqueak, but I was kind of hoping to return to work rested & ready to roll... but instead I'm as tired as I was at the beginning of my vacation, with just as much laundry to wash and just as long a to-do list as when I was looking forward to all the "free time" I was going to have!
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