The company I keep....

Yesterday I was forced to take a day off from work.

It wasn't a punishment of any sort.

It felt like one though.

The company twisted my arm said (via the company handbook) that if you don't take your personal days by a certain September 30th, they will.

Use it or lose it.

What kind of freak saves their personal days until the very last day?

To have that day force fed into realization?

I was saving the day. Saving it for something special. A big sale at Macys, an invitation to doooo, oh I don't know what?..something...anything worthy of taking an entire day off for.

I waited a year for that special reason to take a personal day.

An entire year.

And nothing ever came up.

So yesterday I had a day off.

It was punishment for being a procrastinator.

When the last of my family was waved off toward their day I realized I was alone.

Allllll alone, with a whoooooole day to kill.

The possibilities were endless....

So endless they were actually overwhelming.

The house was a mess, and as I looked around remembering all the stuff I wanted to get done when I had a day off, somehow the inspiration I needed to get started just never came.

After an hour or two of spinning my wheels I finally made a decision to walk around in circles.

I was bored.

And lonely.

Bear had my car so there was no leisurely trip to Kohls the grocery store.

I also couldn't take the pile of clearance impulse buys gently used clothes to the Salvation Army Store where I planned to snoop around and try to discover that special overlooked treasure that would make me an Antique Roadshow celebrity.

Neither were within walking or bike riding distance.

So here it was my personal day and I was stuck home all by myself with nothing, yet everything, to do.

The day seemed to drag.

Me, myself and I were not having a great day off.

Not wanting to miss a chance to speak with the outside world (should the phone ring) I carried around all three of my phones.

The were neatly stored in a fanny pack I dug out of the donation pile.

When the phones didn't ring, I decided to call an old friend.

It'd been so long since we'd chatted in the middle of the day that the work number I had for her was disconnected.

And everyone else I knew was busy.

Susan was at school.

Googie and Micky were at work.

Joyce didn't answer.

Vicky, out of town.

I had no one to talk to but myself.

And I really had nothing much to say.

I flipped on the radio to hear some voices.

And I tried (like hell) to be the 25th caller to win some contest they were having.

I almost called their request line to ask them to play Bob Seger's Good Time Rock & Roll.

I had a sudden urge to dance in my underwear.

And sing at the top of my lungs.

When I tired of that, I searched for something new to do.

I didn't dare turn on the tube...where I knew some episode of Saved By the Bell would suck me in.

So I wandered.

And I pondered.

And finally, finally I started to see some progress.

Slowly but surely I got some things done.

And by the time Daddio and the young adults walked into the door the house was actually quite clean.

It smelled of Spic & Span and Yankee Candle's Autumn Harvest.

And also like beef pot pie.

Which was on the table at 6pm sharp.

I miss being a "stay at home."

But not much.