Day One

Making a salad with honey mustard dressing, an evening spent playing with a puppy, a phone that barely rang, an afternoon nap and a leisurely cup of morning coffee marked my first day of joining the ranks of the unemployed. Without the preoccupation of having to get to someplace and getting back home, time seemed to move slower and I moved more consciously.

After the longest time, without the weather buffer called the office air conditioning, I could actually feel the weather outside my window and for the briefest of moments, while I vaporized, I considered telling my boss I would come back to work through the summer months. I ate only when hungry, made a glass of the perfect dark iced lemon tea and spent an entire day without getting behind the wheel of my car. A life I could get used to if only I could get rid of this nagging feeling that I am on a short holiday and before I know it I will be back to the life of living each day with a defined goal and a list of tasks that need to be accomplished.

When I shut the office laptop for the last time and drive out of the basement parking lot yesterday, I reminded myself not to trudge back there at 10.00 a.m the next day morning. So used am I to the habit called office; And breaking into a different lifestyle was little like a my first day at work, like seeing the place and the people for the first time. I noticed things like the afternoon sun on the floor of my home, I found the time to say good night to dad, I have the energy to write late into the night, to watch an IPL match till the last ball, basically to live more consciously in little mundane and urban ways. Not today the mindless ravenous chomping through dinner only to shower and collapse in bed or the mumbled conversation with family recounting vague details of the work day. Today, I lived every minute and moment. And tomorrow is another day. Thankfully not a working day...yet. :)