Balance

 Work and play. It’s a difficult balance isn’t it? And I’m not only talking about work work, the kind that pays the bills. The stuff around the house. It piles up, waits for you, leers at you from the whiteboard list, taunting you until you conquer it and wipe its smug little letters away.  

Last weekend was a four day weekend for me. Labour Day on the Monday, and our company gave us Friday off as well to package it up nicely, a sort of consolation prize I guess for the realization that summer is almost over.

I had worked hard at the office so that I could in fact take all four days off and enjoy some quality time with Kelly. And we did some of that, but things that need doing gnaw at me, making it difficult for me to let go and just, be.

We went out for dinner on Saturday, a wonderful and very tasty meal and a great time. We went to a nearby marina as well, and I read my book under a tree while Kelly enjoyed an almost two hour nap. And Monday we went to Ojibway Park and walked the trails for over an hour, talking and enjoying nature, surely among my favorite things to do.

I just wish I was able to let go. I’ve learned over the years to let go of the office. When I started at this company, I didn’t sleep at night. I would review the day’s tasks and meetings and problems over and over in my head and lay there awake. Eventually that passed, and now, ten years later, I barely think about the office at all once I walk out that door. Not consciously anyway. I can feel the weight of what awaits me on Monday, but most often I am able to ignore even that. Maybe I just don’t care any more. Not sure.

But what I do care about, very much so, are the tasks I need to do here, around the house. These are things I’ve promised Kelly I would do. Things that I need to accomplish to free up some space for her to be able to have plenty of room for her. Room for her hobbies, and crafts, Kelly space, happy Kelly space.  Oh there’s other stuff too on the to-do list. Easier things, shorter tasks, and those tend to get done first. And the big onerous ones sit and wait. And gnaw at me. I half expected a fish to pop out of the water at the marina to say “Hey bud, that computer in the basement isn’t going to move itself you know!!”

All in all, we had a good weekend. Some of the tasks got done; we also had some fun and spent some quality time together.  

Sunday we leave for our getaway. I can’t wait. Being far away solves the problem right? You can’t feel like you should be doing something else when you’re almost 8 hours away. Can you?  I hope the fish can’t talk up there.