Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day "minus 4" - Time off from work starts today

Of course, all my work colleagues burn the candle at at least two ends every day, and we like what we do and who we do it for. Still, I am logged in from 7:30 to 5:30, with a lunch that's too short, and occasional after-hours calls, and I never call in sick, and I'm max'ed out on my vacation accruals. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, I hesitated to take much vacation time in case there were cutbacks, and that didn't happen, but here I am in September of 2021 sitting on five weeks of available time off. And, every time someone does take more than a day or two, it's a burden on the rest of the team to keep up.

But eventually, one takes one's turn, and today is my first day of a three-week vacation (including two weeks in Hawaii). I don't mind waking up at my normal workday time, but it takes me a couple days to stop thinking I need to psyche myself up for the next leg of the rat race.

To be clear, I am not complaining about my job, but it's nice to play hooky for an extended period.

However, the big project during my few days at home is to paint the deck, not exactly the most fun I'll have in the next three weeks. It's a small wooden deck, and it has already been scraped and cleaned, but opening a can of paint is such a commitment.