Clocking Out

For my entire adult life I have arranged appointments around my work schedule, lobbying for first thing in the morning or the last appointment in the afternoon or perhaps even a lunch-time appointment. But that's all about to change.

The government is actually quite generous when it comes to annual (holiday) leave. After 15 years a government worker earns 26 days of paid vacation time a year. That same worker earns 13 days of paid sick leave a year. But most of us have scrimped and saved to make the most of this time off.

When our children were young and were subject to the typical children's diseases, some of our worst arguments were over who had to stay home. It was not at all that we didn't want to be with our children, but it was the pressure of needing to be at work and not wanting to use too much leave of any sort.

I remember with a feeling of great guilt leaving 4-year-old Rachel covered with the chicken pox at home with an 85-year-old woman who could barely get out of the Lazy-boy lounger. Rachel ended up heating up her own lunch in the microwave and pretty much fending for herself. What bad parents we were.

There were those dreaded calls from the school: Your child is in the office with a fever of 100 degrees. Please come get him as soon as possible. Groan!

Home repairs rivaled sick children as we both struggled to go to work. There was always a 4-hour window during which you had to stay home because you never knew when and if they would ever show up to fix whatever was broken.

Routine doctors' appointments always had to be arranged around a schedule of meetings, training, and other work demands. If I scheduled an appointment around the middle of the day, I could sometimes get by with using just an hour of sick leave, racing into the city in 25 minutes and then back, having used my entire lunch hour as well.

This will all change in a mere 14 days. I can take the times that are still available on the doctor's calendar. I can practice my music while I wait for the appliance repair man to show up. There will be no leave taken because every day will be a vacation day.

I'm sure there will be a necessary transition to this new unscheduled life of mine. But it's one I am looking forward to embracing!