25 days

Of unemployment.

And finally I'm almost getting a chance to relax.

Out of my 11 weeks of severance payment plus the 4 and a half weeks of vacation payout I am coming up on using a quarter of it.

Relaxing is weird though. I think Thursday (2 days from now) will be the first day I won't have anything planned.

No errands to run. Nothing to help out on.

Only breathing. Eating. Using the bathroom. Taking my dog out to use her grass bathroom.

The past 25 days have not felt like I've been unemployed. I spent 10 of them throwing "going away" parties, dinners and brunches, happy hours and then finally cleaning up after all the mess that was left and making sure we shipped everything we wanted to Charleston (we didn't).

I spent 7 of those 25 days skipping from hotel to hotel across the country.

And the past 8 days have been used to:

A) Find a place to live, figure out leasing terms (3 days)
B) Get our stuff delivered and unpacked (2 days)
C) Get everything set up (utilities, cable, household goods) (3 days)

And now I get a chance to really enjoy not working. But it's been odd. The past few days have not been filled with much on the "to-do" list. And when they're not (like Thursday will be) the days last what feels like an entire summer.

And I was thinking about this earlier tonight. About how while we work (for those that just hope to get through most days and can't wait to get off or get to the weekend) we count the hours, the minutes. And then as soon as we do get off work we fill our afternoons and evenings, and weekends with so many activities and events that are planned - it feels like there's never enough time.

I used to do little *fist pumps* every time I'd reach a time milestone during my workday. I'd look up and I'd be 3 hours in to my shift. Almost halfway, and then all of a sudden it was an hour past lunch and the hard part was over. On a larger scale as each week wore on I couldn't hurry it along fast enough. By Thursday I was so forward looking to the weekend that many of those mornings I woke up thinking it was Friday.

So to come out of that constant pushing forward to the weekend to a point now where tomorrow isn't that big of a deal to me - it's almost how I felt every summer after school. Waking up that 2nd week of summer break and realizing that I didn't have to go in to school that morning. Nor did I have any homework that was due. I wonder if this is what retirement feels like too - I've tried to pry my dad's real feelings out of him about retiring but he seems to be enjoying it.

Maybe after working for so many years it's that much sweeter. And it's probably because I know that I have to work sometime in the near future (in order to afford our lives) that's nagging on me and not allowing me to fully enjoy my money for nothing.

I can't remember the last time I didn't do any "work" for an entire month. We'll see how much longer this lasts.