out to lunch

i've noticed what seems to be a bit of a trend around our nation's capital. as soon as the first of may shows up, us winter-weary and sun starved office dwellers pretty much mentally check out of anything work-related and do not return from this sabbitical until the end of august. if it's not about taking 2 hour lunch breaks to sit in the sun, befriending complete strangers because we hear their apartment building has a rooftop pool, standing in line for upwards of 20 minutes for a single scoop of ice cream or drinking a pitcher of sangria to counter the summer heat, we really just do not care. work? what is that? the sun is here. the days are long. it's 90 flippin degrees outside. i do not need your spreadsheets or your power point presentations. i need new sundresses and a picnic basket. it has come to my attention that no one in washington really gets any work done between may 1 and august 31. but the best part of that is, that no one in washington really CARES if no one gets any work done between may 1 and august 31. we collectively take this "vacation" because that way, if we aren't working, and no one else around us is working, then we all pretty much look like we are working since we're doing the same thing everyone else is. genius.

i almost feel like this is an unconcious effort on our parts to reclaim summer, since it was snatched away from us the second we left the safety of college and were thrust out into the "real world," where jobs do not come with a 3 month break during the hottest months of the year. and, since we no longer have the seductive promise of 3 whole months of doing whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want to, we deal with it the best way we know how: by slacking off at work. honestly, who can focus through a 2 hour meeting about budgets when all i can think about is how nice it would be to sit by the fountain down at the navy memorial, drinking an iced coffee and people watching. seriously. IT'S ALL I THINK ABOUT. but i know i am not alone, since the rest of DC is on mental holiday right along with me.

so, while i daydream about laying on a blanket in the shady grass on the national mall with a good book and my puppy dog for company, i still manage to make it to work every day, and someone who looks just like me gets all my work done. maybe when i "come back" at the end of august, my boss will ask me for an essay entitled "what i did this summer," and i can write page after page about the road trips to the beach, the afternoons laying out by rooftop pools, the piles of books i went through while sipping frozen margaritas, the museums i visited, the concerts and movies i went to....in my head. while i was at work. cause i'm a grown up.

there should be an "out of office" email setting for this...

thank you for your email. i am mentally checked out and cannot respond because i am busy daydreaming about the sound of ocean waves and the feel of sand between my toes. i will return your email in a week or two when i emerge from this fantasy, unless i succumb to another one before then, in which case it will be the end of august before you hear back from me.

cheers,

me