Thoughts on too much time off

Back in November, I started using vacation hours before the end of the year and took some time off. Then there was Thanksgiving and the office was closed for two days. More time off. The ICDOC agility trial was the first Friday/Saturday/Sunday in December and I took time off for that. Then we had the first big winter storm of the year and I stayed home a day because the roads were bad.

This was followed by Dad's funeral and more time off. Then here came another snow storm and Christmas. You guessed it, more time off. Followed by New Year's, which equaled time off. Then we got whammied by another snow storm and I took another day off.

Holy cow! I haven't worked a full 5-day week in nearly two months! This week may very possibly kill me!

I truly hope this has not come to the attention of my editor (Hi, Nick! You're a great guy, have I told you that?) because I would prefer he NOT realize I am doing my job on four days a week (and sometimes less). I am not doing it particularly well, just skating along, trying to keep ahead of the avalanche of crazy demands, and would like to be at work 5 days a week but that just hasn't happened.

Deciding to drive to work - or anywhere else - in horrible winter weather is a very individual thing. Some people will drive through anything. I used to be one of them. I'm not any more. Not sure when that happened. Maybe when I realized I am fortunate to have a job that does not demand I be available 24/7 and if I miss a day, the world is not going to end. Honestly, that's one of the reasons I'm still at this job. It's incredibly flexible that way.

Part of my job is writing obits. Every year I write obits for people killed in car accidents in the winter. Sometimes they were driving too fast for conditions. Other times, they were killed by other people who were driving too fast. Either way, it ended the same. You have to wonder what they thought was so important they had to venture out when road conditions were so awful. Sometimes I wonder if I'm finally getting good sense or just being lazy when I look out the window at howling wind and snow and say, "Forget it. I'm staying home today."

It's a lot easier to say that at the end of the week vs the busy production and deadline days at the start of the week. Those would be more likely to find me slip-sliding my way to the office, swearing all the way and cursing the gods, the DOT, the weathermen and the %$#@! idiot driving three feet from my rear bumper. Yeah, some days I still drive when I probably shouldn't but welcome to winter in the Midwest. If we all stayed home every time it snowed, the county would shut down from December through March. I'm just a lot more selective about those days than I used to be.

I was talking to our neighbor over the weekend and she said when her kids were living at home and wanted to go somewhere when the roads were bad, she always told them, "Go ahead. You might get there but you might come home in a body bag." She sure has a way with words.

Today, I'm thankful for a week with temperatures above zero and no big storms predicted. Jamie and Phoenix are, too. While my guys enjoy playing in the snow, they are most definitely not into the Arctic tundra/Siberia scene. They'll happily leave it to Jazz and Coach.