my last day

It was my last day at work today for six months (plus the remainder of my vacation and sick leave, so ... seven months), and it was both exciting and sad. Exciting to record my out-of-office voicemail message after thinking about it for so long. Sad at the end of the day when all my coworkers hugged me and said goodbye. Exciting (and freeing) to throw out so many unneeded notepads and files of just-in-case paperwork and realize they are not my problem for the time being. Sad at around noon when my boss called me into his office and asked me to "Please come back" when my leave was over because it's going to be so tough to have me gone. Even if I'm not sure yet what my future holds (back to work? freelance? something entirely new? full-time mom?), it is good to feel so wanted.

I packed up a small box of things I wanted to bring home — things I haven't already brought home in the past few weeks: A pile of books I've reviewed or wanted to read (The Wisdom of the Celtic Saints, the new, illustrated, hardback edition of The Elements of Style, Strategies for Stay-at-Home Parents). My Ireland wall calendar, at which I have loved looking every day and for which I now hope find a spot to hang at home. (Yikes ... trying to use prepositions correctly in that sentence makes it awfully awkward!) All my benefits information. Boxes of teabags and crackers I've had lying around. A gift certificate for Caribou Coffee I got for my birthday but forgot I had.

I added up all my available time off this morning, and it looks like I can take my leave through the first week of March. It seems like such a long time from now, but I suspect the time will fly by. I'm glad I'll have a full winter to hibernate at home with our baby. Winters at work are hectic. With Christmas editions and a magazine-style special section in December and a crazed number of major supplements in January and February, we are always pulling our hair out by March. Who knows? By then I might be pulling my hair out with cabin fever. But something tells me I am going to be happy to be at home with the Lemmondrop, the two of us staying as snug as bugs in the cold, snowy weather. And if I do get stir-crazy, I can always dip my feet in and offer my freelance help. I'm pretty sure they won't say no to that!