Tuesday, January 02, 2007

The holiday that almost wasn't

After a lovely day off yesterday to celebrate New Year's Day, and after the second straight night of fireworks-disrupted sleep, I dragged myself out of bed early this morning to go back to work. It was difficult to do, but I accepted the necessity of it and knew I'd feel more awake and alert as the day went on.

I pulled up in front of our building right at eight-thirty, our usual starting time, and mine was the only car in the parking lot. That made me feel worse. All of the other offices were apparently enjoying a two-day holiday, just as most of the government offices were.

I turned on the lights, cranked up the heat, turned on my computer, checked for voice mail messages, and wondered where my boss was. He's usually there before I am.

As I sat there at my desk, I began to wonder. "Hmmm," I thought. "We discussed what days we'd take off for Christmas, but we never actually talked about the New Year's holidays." Since there are only two of us in the office, the boss and I, and we've worked together for eight years, sometimes we assume we know what each other is thinking. Sometimes we're wrong.

I decided I'd wait until nine o'clock to call his house. At eight-fifty, the phone rang. It was one of his buddies. "Is he there?" he asked. "He's supposed to meet me at my house at nine to go hunting, and I couldn't reach him on his cell phone. I'll call him at home."

My day was starting to get better. "I haven't heard from him this morning," I replied, "but if you catch him at home, would you please ask him to give me a call? If today is a holiday, I'd sure like to know about it."

In less than five minutes the phone rang again. "I'm so sorry," the boss said, "I thought we talked about this last week."

"Oh, no," I said, "please don't be sorry; I'm thrilled to death."

It took less than two minutes to shut things down, then my holiday resumed. Of all the days I've had off in the past couple of weeks, this one is the most delicious.

11 comments:

  1. Hi Velvet and a Happy New Year, may i be filled with many delicious surprises. lol Pleased you gained an extra day and you were up early enough to enjoy it. :-) It is odd though isn't it how much more we appreciate something when we think we've lost it. Hope you languished and pampered yourself for the rest of the day.

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  2. No kidding, aren't those surprise days off just the absolute best?

    Happy 2007, Velvet...hope the rest of the day was wonderful!

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  3. Velvet, I'm so happy for you!! Hope you did something special - maybe curl up with a book and the pups. It's been so chilly today...hope you were warm. No chance you have tomorrow off??? Enjoy the holiday while it lasts. Holly

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  4. Gee, that must have felt great! Good thing you got out of there before a client called or came in!

    Are Butch and Kadi bothered by the fireworks?

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  5. Never assume you know what a man is thinking, that is where you went wrong Velvet. Men, never assume you know what a woman is thinking, it always leads to disaster.

    I keep forgetting that others in the world celebrate the holidays so I'm all ready to make a trip to Walmart when Blossom tells me they're closed. I was like, why They're 24hrs. She said, not on Christmas they're not. Oops! Okay! I Forgot, my bad.

    Then, a few days later we set out to go to the dollar store but it seems that they wanted to take off for New Years Day...whodathunk Dollar Tree would close on New Years Day but they did so we turned the car right around and came right back home.

    I have to remember to stay in some sort of holiday mindset so I know what is open and what is closed. IHOP happened to be open to serve their nasty pancakes just like they do all year around. Oh yeah, we had a nice time with the Bah and the Hum and the Bug.

    Austin

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  6. The unexpected days off when one is not ill are the best. Personally, I take most of my "sick" days when I am feeling fine! teehee

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  7. Yes!! An extra day off!! Having it as a surprise starts the year in a great way. :)

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  8. I'm afraid the juxtaposition of emotions would have burst my brain! The joy at having another day off closely followed by the sizzling anger at having got up early when I didn't need to!

    *kapow!*

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  9. Sandy, Marion, Holly and Jackie: I can't think of a single surprise that would have pleased me more at that early moment of the day.

    Janet, yes, the fireworks bother Butch and Kadi. It's the dogs' reaction to the fireworks that keeps me awake. Butch is actually doing better since his eyes were removed. He burrows himself into a corner that he deems safe and goes to sleep (at least I THINK he's asleep; he doesn't move much). Kadi, on the other hand, freaks slap-dab OUT! I gave her a sedative New Year's Eve, but she'd already worked herself up into such a dither that she threw up half a minute later. When the fireworks began again the next night, she wedged herself upside down under the covers and finally settled down. She was on her back, pressed between me and a body pillow, her butt in my face and her head at my knees--and that was better than the quivering mass of fur she usually is, so I let her stay.

    Austin, you made me laugh, both about the futility of trying to think like the opposite sex and "the Bah and the Hum and the Bug.";-)

    Sister-Three, don't worry; we won't tell anybody.

    TC, welcome back. I understand your point, but the joy so far outweighed the anger that it wasn't even a contest.

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  10. man, i would have loved for that to happen!! sometimes i even set the alarm when i know i'm off just so i can it off and go back to sleep!

    john michael

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  11. HAHAHAHA! John Michael, that's a great idea!

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