Anticipating Routine

While I'm sitting here feeling that I'm not quite ready for the holiday break to be over, I bet the dogs are looking forward to once again living a more routine lifestyle. Nothing has been routine since the weekend before Christmas -- first travel, then having a houseguest (my husband's brother, very popular with the dogs) since last Friday evening. It's been a whirlwind of unusual activity, shifted sleeping hours and nobody sitting at their desks working. It's been fun. And the dogs seem to have enjoyed the road trips and all the extra play time with family members, but when my brother-in-law sat down at my computer to write an email this morning, Baxter and Kirby quickly assumed their "work" positions under my desk. They seemed so content to see a glimpse of routine, even if only for a few minutes.

And routine they soon will have. As my mom is fond of saying, "the party's over." We dropped my brother-in-law off at the Amtrak station this evening and came back to an all-too-quiet house. My husband and I retreated to our computers and the dogs immediately assumed their usual places. I'm sitting here staring at the pile of work on my desk, my "to do" list for first thing tomorrow morning. A couple of weeks ago "I'll get to that after the first of the year" was such a sweet idea...a blissful and understandable act of holiday procrastination. Time's up.

While I'd love to have another week of hanging around with family and friends, eating rich food and avoiding work, there's a small part of me that, like the dogs, will be happy to return to some semblance of routine. (As freelancers who work from home, our idea of "routine" is still pretty flexible compared to our past professional lives as commuters and office cubicle dwellers.) And I must admit, I do look forward to the work that lies ahead.

I have some great clients and interesting projects to work on. And knowing I'll be sitting at my desk tomorrow morning with a hot cup of coffee in my hand and Kirby and Baxter at my feet makes the anticipation of jumping back into the world of work a much sweeter prospect.