May 29th, 2024

Hey there!  Have you all recovered from the long weekend?    I know that not everyone actually gets to have 3-days off in a row because of the sorts of jobs that they have, but for everyone else,  it's a big woohoo!  Something that I think we all look very much forward to.

Three consecutive days off with no job-related responsibilities or stresses. No waking up to an alarm clock. No rushing through every single moment of the day, trying to, somehow magically shoehorn extra non-existent hours, into a 24 hour period of time.  Ahhhhh!  Wonderful!

And you can do whatever you like with those 3-days.  Some people travel, just  a short get-away. Other folks relax at home or catch up on projects.  Maybe you hosted friends and family. Or perhaps since the weather is nicer now, it was time to get your garden started!  Traditionally it's a day of remembering those who have passed, especially those who have served our country in our military.   And how best to remember and celebrate their lives than to live, laugh, love our lives.

And no matter if you chose to commemorate the Memorial Day Weekend with a cookout, a trip, a project or just a lot of relaxation (ahhhhh!)  it was still 72 hours away from your normal workaday life.  And change of pace itself is enough to recharge batteries for most of us.

Still there is always a balance on the other end.    Yes, because Monday was a holiday, there is now only a 4 day work week ahead (another yay!) but it also means cramming 5 days work into 4 and sometimes that feels more like punishment than reward, right?  I remember it well.  Coming into work extra early on the Tuesday following a long weekend just to try to catch up. There were always a Long list of messages on the phone and an almost endless pile up of emails on top of the normal weeks work!  Which meant coming in early, working through lunch and often staying late for a few days just to get back into a normal weekly rhythm.

Even for me, retired tho I be, I have a sort of pattern to my weeks.  Mondays is also a day of tidying of course after a weekend but mostly it is a day of laundry. Lots of laundry. Load after load of laundry. I change out all of the towels and sheets that day on top of the regular clothes sort of laundry.  Tuesdays, on the other hand, is mostly about grocery shopping and dusting and vacuuming, ironing and cleaning bathrooms, because come Wednesday my Museum Day is on tap and I accomplish little at home other than meals on a Museum Day.  

When a three day weekend comes along, on Tuesday, I find myself trying to do both Monday and Tuesdays chores all on Tuesday.  Even though it's not as if I'll get in "trouble" if everything doesn't get caught up by the end of Tuesday and I'm in no danger of being fired after all, I don't like to drag things out too far.  It just ends up cluttering up the rest  of the week.  I just  want to get back to a normal pattern of things as quickly as possible so that a Monday/Tuesday doesn't also become a Tuesday/Wednesday and then a Wednesday/Thursday.....you get the drift.   There is a comfort, for me,  that comes with an orderly, predictable pattern.  

I know without a doubt, without a whisper of a hint of a question, that by Tuesday afternoon, all of the clothes that we own that are not on our bodies, are clean, ironing, folded, put away and ready to be worn again.   There is no wondering if ones "lucky" socks are ready to be worn again because they are always washed, dried, rolled up and tucked into the sock drawer, right next to the, presumably unluck or, at least,  less lucky socks by Tuesday afternoon.  Just the way it works in this house.

When Thursday comes around, I am free to go hiking with my sister without feeling that heavy load of chores dangling over my head like the sword of Damocles.  It's all already done. I can relax, enjoy my hike, the photography, the company and the day.  Friday is my baking day and then the "work" week is complete and Tim and I can enjoy the weekend together.

It's Wednesday now and yes, I knocked out all of the Monday & Tuesday stuff and I am back on track.  It is a good thing.  I do love a three-day weekend, without question, getting to spend 3 whole days with my sweetie (woohoo) without jobs getting in the way.  But my favourite part about AFTER a long weekend, is Wednesday when I'm all caught up again.

And now I am. Huzzah!