Back at Work (Temporarily)

I came back to work on Monday. I only have to be here for two weeks, but I hate to be away from Bennett even for such a short time. (I also hate having to get up early in the morning and put on makeup every day. But that's not my point.) Still, it was the responsible thing to do, and I'm glad I'll have the chance to wrap up a few things and train one of my coworkers to index documents. They aren't going to have time to get a replacement before I leave (they're just starting to interview), so training my coworker is just a stopgap. It may be a "blind leading the blind" situation for someone who's just been trained to try to train a new person, but it's better than having no one even try to train you--I should know, since I'm still waiting to be trained!

It was so tempting to just say screw it and not come back--if Bennett had been born a week late instead of a week early, I would have. But since he came early, my maternity leave ended two weeks before the third anniversary of my employment. In the world of vested-payout retirement accounts, that means that in order to get 60% of my employer's portion of my 401k account (instead of just 40%), I had to come back for a couple of weeks. I suppose it would be stupid to pass on the chance to get what amounts to 5 weeks worth of pay for 2 weeks of work. Also, coming back and giving 2 weeks notice means the difference between a "yes, she's eligible for rehire" and "no, she's not eligible for rehire" if anyone ever calls here for a reference. Not that I EVER want to rejoin the workforce if I can avoid it, but it's smart to refrain from unnecessary bridge burning.

Being back at work is weird. In some ways it feels like I was never gone, in other ways it feels like I'm starting from scratch. My brain is completely Swiss-cheesed. I can't remember where anything is stored on the network, and I can't remember the simplest processes.

My timing for coming back to the office was REALLY good, though. Yesterday was Administrative Professionals Day (also known as Secretaries Day). The firm hosted a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake feast in our honor, and also gave each of us a lovely, crisp $100 bill...and a water bottle! That definitely makes being at work a little easier!

Another thing that makes being back at work a little easier is the fact that Ty is the most awesome, thoughtful, dedicated, loving, helpful, patient brother and uncle in the world. He is taking such good care of Bennett while I'm working. Not only do I have no earthly reason to worry about my baby while I'm away from him, I also get to see him every day during my lunch break because Uncle Ty rocks. Being away from my munchkin for 3-4 hours at a time is a lot easier than being away from him for 8-9 hours at a time. Plus, the lunch visits give me a chance to show off my handsome boy to my coworkers, which every proud mama can understand and appreciate. (There's something nice about seeing other people fall in love with your baby.)

I realize that this is probably the lamest, most boring post I've ever blogged. No one here cares about my job. Heck, even I don't care about my job! I should probably just delete it. But I haven't blogged for over a month and a half, so I figured I better post something, even if it is likely to cause narcolepsy in my readership. I promise to try to get the pictures downloaded from our camera to our computer (and to my flickr account) soon. Maybe a bunch of adorable baby pictures will make up for this tedious chore of a post...