Twas the Morning Before Thanksgiving...

On this very merry Thanksgiving Eve, I had a very pleasant day. I went to work like normal, but not a creature was stirring, not even a newspaper hawker. I enjoyed a much roomier metro ride to the office, with thoughts of sugarplum fairies and 1/2 day workdays running through my head.

The Chief of Staff hadn't mentioned anything during the week to me about giving us a shorter day today, but the staff seemed to anticipate such an event occurring, so I held my breath (figuratively, and occasionally literally) as I waited for the Chief to call me to check in at some point during the morning.

There were only 4 of us (including - gulp - OWC!) in the office today - compared to the normal 11-12 peeps on an average day, with countless people coming in and out of the office. Barely anyone stopped in, and we spent most of the morning conversing, which I quite appreciated - I got to know the staff a little more from the eyes of the other staff. I won't lie, the 3 staffers there with me may be my favorites. At any rate, I've thus far been able to talk with them the easiest, so I was happy they were working. None of us had really pressing matters to get to, so we talked and enjoyed ourselves in the back office, then did some work, and then the other 3 came and relaxed in the front office with me for a bit.

And then, at the stroke of noon, the Chief calls - OWC answers and sends him over to me. I pick up and chat with Chief for a few minutes, ask a question I had thought of, ignore the highly excited air wafting over to me from the back room as 1 staffer bounces from toe to toe in anticipation of what joy this phone call brings.

The receiver clicks down - the phone has been hung up - and suddenly staffer R has roadrunner-ed over to me (the whoosh of the air is still noticeable from the backroom where she started from), calmly wondering whether my conversation with the Chief was fun or not.

"He said that if it's slow and you don't have anything pressing to do, you can leave at one."

Euphoria takes over the front office. Suddenly the other 2 staffers have moleculized in front of me from the back, and OWC asks me to repeat what the Chief says. I smile coyly (do boys even recognize these different smiles? I may just be wasting my time with this...), and repeat my previous statement. OWC smiles lovingly back at me, and I see us 5 years from now with 3 children, when R returns shaking with excitement about her newfound afternoon freedom. Literally shaking - she'd had a little too much caffeine this morning, so her hand was rather trembly.

We brave through the next hour, and then suddenly it's one.

No one wants to be the 1st to race out the door, so we let staffer J set the precedent - he's going out of town in the afternoon, so he was going to leave around that time anyway. R follows suit a few minutes later, and we talk about skipping Black Friday and just hitting the outlets in the afternoon, just because.

And I'm alone with OWC.

He's in the other room, I can't even see him. I hear no sounds of him wrapping up to leave, so I decide not to try to time my departure with his - I really want to be home more than I want to talk to him at this point (that's what happens when it's obligatory - other priorities take precedent rather easily), so I get up, talk to him for a second and wish him a happy Thanksgiving, and then I bolt, leaving him wanting more...possibly.

The best part of all this - I was home by 2pm. None of this 'home after the sun has set' mess my usual days consist of. I got into my house, turned the heat up, made a warm lunch, and then climbed into my bed and settled in for a nice relaxing afternoon.

This holiday, I'm thankful for 1/2 days at work - it brings a smile to my face everytime I get one.

I'm also thankful for you, my 7 readers, and your stalker-like thoughtfulness to read my random thoughts and stupid experiences without making your presence known. Thanks for secretly following my life in all its minutiae.

You rock, just FYI. Happy Thanksgiving Day!