Close

The abandonment of gainful employ affords untold freedoms, at the cost of being able to afford much of anything. But to hell with it. I'm off for 7 months from work - a leave-of-absence rather unexpectedly granted in a time of mass layoffs. And I'd been prepared to pack it in and quit - so desperate I was to regain control over my life.

That having been said, once the day came, it ended up being harder to leave than I'd thought. Call it loyalty to the friends I'd made. Maybe I feel like I should be standing with them in tough times to come. Maybe I just don't want to miss out on the hundred little jokes tossed over the cubicle walls every day.

Mind you, no complaints here. The abundance of time is fantastic, and by putting work completely out of my mind, the improvement in my mental state and gumption level is like night and day. I have time now to get the lawn-mower fixed. I can work on all the design -portfolio projects I'd been putting off. I can nurse our long-suffering trip plans back to health. My workplace hazards now include telemarketing calls and the bottomless pit of daytime-TV channel-flipping.

Actually, TV has been easy to avoid. It's remarkable how much there is to do, given the time. My to-do lists run pages. Between coursework, overdue yardwork, and long-neglected house-cleaning, it's been a pretty full first week of what many supposed would be slovenly destitution.