This working for a living is tough stuff

At 5 p.m. today I completed my first 40-hour work weeks since sometime in early September of last year. While I can't say it was any fun having chemo or radiation (which was better than chemo, if you have to have some form of treatment), what WAS fun was not working but getting paid for 40 hours.

For the six weeks I was in radiation, I got used to buzzing out of the office each day at 2:30 and being home between 4:30 and 5:00 and in plenty of time to make dinner (or pretend to). I managed the full-time paycheck throughout my treatments because I'd accumulated a lot of vacation time and burned through that rather than take the pay "cut." Not the best way to spend vacation time, but another reason to look at the entire experience and consider myself lucky.

Life continues to return to a more normal pattern, and that's a good thing. We're still contemplating a real vacation and trying to decide where we'd like to go. Of course, as soon as the weather is right, the front porch at the farm will be calling my name.

Today I presented with the opportunity to travel for the company, to Las Vegas in late April for a conference. It's one of those places that I'll be happy to go to again. Dave and I were there in 2005 (again for a work conference) and had a great time. Can't beat such a trip when the company pays for my meals, my airline ticket, and the hotel room.