Day 32, self quarantine
Right now it’s 4:00 a.m. I’ve given up ever trying to sleep in, it’s not in my DNA. This is my zen time, when I sit in the darkened living room meditating, before coffee and watching taped episodes of Chopped Sweets.
I made the mistake of flicking on the news. This is not a political post, just one sentence, to say I’m appalled at Trump for irresponsibly and illegitimately planning on taking a coronavirus victory lap today and reopening the country too soon.
I haven’t stayed inside for thirty-two days in the Spring just so I can get deathly ill in the summer.
Also, the President is both an idiot and a criminal.
Okay, that’s two sentences. I’m done.
But there’s another (selfish) reason for my anger.
Yesterday, as I was happily curled up on the sofa while Gary hurled four letter words at his laptop, I had a major epiphany. Something in me shifted this week.
I freaking love quarantine and I love working from home.
The only adjustment I want is for my kids to be here and the beaches at the Jersey shore to reopen. I am craving a walk by the ocean with my family, and, a Manco & Manco pizza.
Oh, and I don’t want to work from home five days a week. This three day schedule suits me fine 😎
Yeah, yeah, in my dreams.
My change of heart actually started happening Tuesday. Typically on getaway days before a couple of days off, my boss is usually all about no heavy lifting - i.e., instead of complicated Motions etc. we’ll do stuff like phone calls and filing. So when I headed upstairs that morning, I was feeling light hearted and stress free.
The text from my boss came seconds later.
“What are you working on?”
Uh-oh. He’s asking me this at 8:00 a.m.?
I somehow guessed he didn’t want the truth, which was, “I’m eating a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios!”
“Why? What’s up?” I texted instead.
“Stop whatever you were doing. I didn’t settle XXX. You need to throw a Complaint together and get it to the client today.”
Omg. You have no idea. I’ve prepared Complaints my entire career. Typically, they take a couple hours, tops.
In my current position, we have a paralegal who prepares most of the Complaints in our office, but sometimes the Complaints are thirty pages, ridiculously complicated, and are associated with files I worked on exclusively so I am the one who prepares it. The Complaint I had on Tuesday was one of those.
Worse, I had to read federal statutes regarding tractor-trailers before I could even start.
Also typically, these Complaints take me a week. I need two days just to get the first draft to my boss, then it goes through days of edits. And that’s with a desktop computer, not the clunky, ancient office laptop I’m using.
I stared at the screen, feeling like a trapped rat.
“I can’t do this. Omg. I can’t. What am I going to tell my boss?”
Okay. Deep breaths. Unless I wanted to be officially retired that very minute, I had to give it a shot.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m a drama queen. I sat there with tears running down my face while I typed.
A few times I let out anguished cries and some choice cursing, once even causing Gary to yell from downstairs, “Is everything okay up there?”
No worries, it’s just your wife, having a complete mental breakdown.
“Everything’s peachy!” I responded instead.
I plugged away, and I dunno, somehow...and I have no freaking clue how... I had a viable first draft by noon. I fired it off via email to my boss, feeling like I was Queen of the world.
“Who’s your mama?” I preened to Jake, stretched out on Julie’s bed behind me.
Jake was not impressed.
The email from my boss arrived shortly thereafter with the first set of edits.
For like the fiftieth time that day, I sat with my head in my hands and wept.
Anyway, to wrap this up, by the end of the day, in a new world record, the Complaint was finished and sent to the client for signature.
Tuesday night, as I was basking in relief and anticipation of the two day holiday, I went over everything our three person team has accomplished over the past month from our respective home offices - one with a 22 month old baby, one with a 3 and 6 year old, and me with Gary 😂😂😂 - and it’s kind of mind blowing. We’re pulling it off!
And that’s when I realized I love quarantine. Staying home with Gary and Jake is glorious. I’m a loner in the real world. This down time is one of the best things that ever happened to me.
I don’t want it to end.
For me, anyway.
