Freedom!

Today is my last day of work. I'm taking the remainder of 2009 off.

So just picture me doing whatever silly dance that suits your personality at this very moment. I can be Carlton Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I can be Maria from The Sound of Music singing about how the hills are alive. I can be Austin Powers shaking my 60's-loving butt to some funky tunes.

You name it, I'll do it. Because I am happy. So utterly friggin' happy today!

I promise that I'm not trying to rub this in your face (okay, well maybe just a little bit). After all, I realize that not everyone can quit their job and move to the sunny beaches of Florida like I am doing. I understand that a large population of America is out of work right now.

Remember though, this opportunity found us. The Pensacola Navy contacted us and invited my husband to join their team. I'm just the lucky woman married to him that gets to tag along for the fun. We didn't ask for this. We simply said yes to the offer on the table.

So please, just let me have this joyful day! Let me relish in the glory of no longer being under the realm of several micromanaging, unorganized and overpaid people, stuck doing work that I'm not passionate about. Allow me to be elated over the fact that I will soon no longer have to live in a community that has barely progressed in the last thirty years. Let me jump for joy over the options and new adventures that await me. Allow me this chance to reflect on Mandy and figure out my next move, on various levels - personally, spiritually and professionally.

I've worked for the past ten years (fourteen if you count college too) without taking more than seven days off. And you can't count my eight weeks of maternity either. That was more work and less sleep than I've ever had in my life! But my chance is here. And I intend to make the most of it.

I will stop and smell the roses. Take my time chewing food and savoring bites. Spend extra minutes in the shower. Read books that I've wanted to read for years now. Write more. Write every day! Take more photographs. Go for long walks. Cook new recipes. Join new groups. Meet new people. Plan a future vacation. Visit my family more, especially those older relatives who might not be around in the coming years. Talk more. Listen more. Dance more. Laugh more. Love more.

I'm so grateful to have this chance for freedom. The opportunity to make the most of spending time with my daughter and learning our way around a new city together.

Thank you to the powers that be that have given us the opportunity to do this. Thank you to my wonderful husband Kirk who is so talented and awesome in his career field that he was sought out for this position. Thank you to all of you who have wished me well and made positive comments regarding this phase of my life.

What would you do if you had a few months off? How would you spend your free moments?