Working Weekend

I knew there would be weekends filled with work as a lawyer. And, believe it or not, this one wasn't so bad.

I think they come in two flavors. The first is horrid, it's the unexpected, I have plans I have to cancel, I hate it when my job gets in the way of my life working weekend. Those weekends aren't so great.

But this weekend I experienced the second flavor, which, in truth, isn't actually that bad.

As of Wednesday evening of this week, I could see the writing on the wall. No amount of late night work on my part was going to fit into my planned social schedule and leave me with a weekend free. Plus, I didn't really have plans this weekend, so it wasn't a big deal. In fact, it was oddly liberating.

Because I knew I'd be working on the weekend, I left work at 4 PM on Friday to meet lucky_girl at my house for a last-minute closet raid for a wedding she had to attend. Ordinarily, I'm rushing to finish my work for the week on Friday at that time. But this time, I collected my binders and piles, waved goodbye to the staff and got on the road.

Yesterday, I slept in, did a nice 6 mile run, made waffles for lunch, relaxed a bit, and then settled into diligence mode. Half an hour in, I had the brilliant idea of getting a manicure and pedicure in the middle of the diligence hours as a treat. I planned to read diligence through the entire pedicure, but I must admit, US weekly did distract me a bit. Even with distractions, I put in a solid 4 hours and found myself halfway done with the pile before it was time to make dinner and welcome P back to the bay area after a month in Canada.

After dinner, I sent a few emails and tried to remotivate, but I could only do about 20 more minutes before E appeared with Krispy Kreme, he even wore a hat for the delivery. Between that and Netflix, how could I possibly insist on more diligence?

Trouble is, even though I found Anchorman to be horrifically tedious, and even though E bailed after 20 minutes, I watched it 'til the end. If I turned it off, you see, I'd have to go back to the diligence. Not happening.

Today, I woke at a decent hour and met up with B to do a slow 10-miler. I came home, showered, and went to downtown for a leisurely brunch with E followed by a visit to the Mountain View Lock Museum. After we'd had our fill of old California history, nostalgia for my Papa, and the curator of the tiny museum who was the most adorable old man ever, I finally made it home, full, relaxed, and mellow.

Again, with a happy heart, I plopped onto the couch to resume my duties. After 25 minutes, I almost fell asleep. Diligence, at times, well...it's not always scintillating. Thankfully, my sister called. I talked to her for 30 minutes or so and then, refreshed, dove back in. An hour later, I'm in need of another break, and here I am. Blogging. The ultimate time-sink.

After this, no doubt, I'll return to my pile, plow through some more and maybe even finish before it's time to make dinner. Probably not, though. This 8 hours or so of work will likely turn out to be a full-weekend-long project.

It'll be the reason I felt no guilt leaving work early on Friday. It'll be the reason I don't feel decadently lazy about my weekend at home with no plans. It'll also be the reason my hours look 8 or so hours nicer than they otherwise would have this month. And since I knew it was coming as far away as Wednesday, I don't even feel grumpy about it. I actually had a good weekend, work was just a part of it.

Like I said, I knew I was going to have to work some weekends as a lawyer. If only they could all line up with my lazy weekends at home.