I had a harder than usual time relaxing today, especially for a Saturday. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I couldn’t enjoy my day off because other things kept wafting through my mind.

After working for a while this morning (really early afternoon, because the morning was mostly gone before I ever got started), I had a window of time, so I sat down to read a book. A very good book. I can’t tell you what book because I’m thinking of giving it away, if it’s as very good as I think it is. But I only got through two or three chapters before I started thinking about how much more work I had to do.

So I stopped, put a bookmark in my place, and went back to my spreadsheets. Before I knew it, it was starting to get dark, and I wouldn’t be able to read any more today without turning on a light. So I finished working and sat down to watch a movie. A very good movie. I can’t tell you what movie because I’m thinking of giving the DVD away, if it’s as very good as it started out to be. But I only got through about ten or fifteen minutes before I started thinking about my Christmas list.

So I paused the movie and took out my list. I’m not very far along with my shopping, but I know what I’d like to get most of the people on it. I also know what I can afford to get, and there’s a pretty huge gap there. So while I was watching the movie, a kind of compromise occurred to me, something that would make me feel a little better about not being able to give as much as I’d like.

Before I got very far along with this project, the phone rang. The Boss. The work I’d faxed him earlier in the day had made an impact (or maybe a dent, I’m not sure which). Was he calling to thank me, or congratulate me? No, he was calling to question me about it, and to see if I felt like spending my Saturday night tweaking cost reports and researching invoices and reconciling billings.

By the time we got very far along with this project, I had every light in the house on, so I could see what I was doing. Why, it was bright enough to read! It’s just too bad that I couldn’t stop and do that. He kept telling me he didn’t want to make me work on Saturday night, if I didn’t want to. Of course I didn’t want to, but I also didn’t want to put it off and have it hanging over me for a couple of days, so that every time I sat down to read a book or watch a movie, I’d be bouncing up and trying to tweak and research and reconcile.

This went on for a while, but by the time the Boss was ready to quit, it was still only 6:30 pm. It seemed later to me, but if I’d had a mind to, I could have gone out on the town. We all know I don’t do that, so I went back to my movie instead. I had to start it over, but at least I could watch it in a more relaxed frame of mine. Right up until the time I thought of something else I needed to do right away.