A Rare Lazy Day

I had myself an extremely, virtually monumentally lazy day. 

Yet, I allowed myself to do this, because it was probably not only overdue, but necessary, having recently calculated that I had worked 19 of the 21 nights since coming back from our vacation late last month, and having worked 21 of the 24 nights overall since.

One of my coworkers kind of scoffed when I mentioned this to him, and boasted that he had worked 15 nights in a row while he was covering for me while on vacation. Maybe, but in the past, I have worked more - even far more - days consecutive than this. Also, I work two jobs, which he does not, and I have a son who I need to take care of, and a girlfriend who expects me to spend time with her.  Plus, there are other responsibilities. He does not have those things. And it was the absence of those things - for only one day that I allow myself to take a break from them - that allowed this day to be probably the restorative kind of day that was needed on my end.

When I got off from work yesterday morning, I went to spend some time with my son, where we visited my parents, and then read a bit of the book that we are reading (and virtually finishing now) , ‘The Cay.’ Once that was done, I went back down south to the apartment to sleep for a few hours, knowing that there was really no way that I could oversleep, since my girlfriend would be coming before a few hours when she got off work. You see, she left for a two week trip to Poland yesterday, and I was the one who was going to drive her to the airport. So, sleeping too much was not an option. 

I should explain why she and I have taken different trips/vacations in recent years. Until just last month, we had a dog, and he was a very sick dog. He suffered from diabetes, which caused his blindness, and he needed regular insulin shots. On top of that, he was losing his hearing towards the end, and I believe he was even losing his sense of smell. In any case, no one wanted or was willing to take him in because of all of this, which meant that we would have had to pay a lot of money for him to be watched professionally, and so I stayed when she took a trip, and vice versa. But we had to put that dog, Max, to sleep, something that I wrote about in an earlier blog entry.  

Anyway, after just a few short hours of sleep, I was ready to take her to the airport. We spent a last bit of time together before she went through security, where I was not a ticketed passenger for a flight, and thus not allowed. So, I headed back home. 

Already, feeling utterly exhausted to the point that my arms and legs were feeling almost shakily weak, I had already determined that the next day, Monday, would be a day off. I would not answer the phone if the dispatcher wanted me to go to an assignment, but would allow myself a lazy day. 

And that is exactly what I had, and in a big way!

Until late at night, when I had to go to work, there was exactly one person who I spoke to. That was my ex, when I called to tell her that I would not be coming up to spend my usual time with my son. Really, I was feeling not that great, and having woken up at four in the morning for no particular good reason, a restful day was a necessity.

The funny thing is that it was only one night off. But having Sunday evening to myself, followed by almost all of Monday, felt like a mini vacation. In fact, I felt almost that same sense of disconnect with going back to work that you get after you take a vacation, only in miniature. It felt good, actually, to have such an incredibly lazy day. Hell, I barely even wrote on this day, until the end.

In a way, it was fitting, too. I had signed up for extra shifts for overtime before vacation, knowing that it would be tiring. Indeed it was, and working that many days made the trip feel like it was a long time ago. But even though this was just one night, it perhaps is symbolic, as I truly begin to return to a normal schedule, without all of the overtime and extra shifts. From here on out, at least for a while, I can expect to have nights off, on average, after no more than four nights working. And I can expect to have two consecutive nights off every other weekend. So, exhaustion should not be able to pile up over the course of three weeks and change, which is what it had been prior to today.

A lazy day, but a good day - and necessary!