My work schedule has been posted and beginning next Friday at 6:00 p.m., I will be off for a week. Actually, I’ll only have six days off, but close enough to a week for me to call it a vacation, my first extended time off in almost two years. I don’t know how to express just how much I need some time away from work, but I suspect you probably know the feeling.

I don’t have any elaborate plans for my time off, other than going down to visit my friend down in the big city. I’m hoping to have time to just zone out and relax, veg out in front of the television, and quite possibly play catch up on my writing. This past two weeks have been brutal for me, healthwise. I haven’t had the energy to do any meaningful work on my writing. I hope to remedy that during my time away.

Also, while I’m down there, I may be forced to play the tourist. It’s amazing just how much there is to see and do in Dallas. What’s more, I lived down there for twelve years and saw none of it. I never went to the Dallas Zoo, or The Arboretum. I never visited Delay Plaza or the Texas Book Depository. I never went to a Texas Rangers game or saw the Dallas Mavericks. And horror of horrors, I never took time to see the Dallas Symphony, see a ballet, or even attend a rock concert. L’horreur!

Seriously, I don’t know what, if anything I’ll do while I’m out-of-town. My only plan is not to think about work, not go to work, and try not to gain weight from sitting around all day doing nothing. I want – no I need! – to spend time working on my book. I keep saying that’s what I want to do, but I keeping allowing life to get in the way. This vacay is for me to decompress and just be me. I deserve it.

Until then, I’ll continue working on my project and hoping I get a little further. I just need to survive ten more days. I think I can make it. I hope I can.

Please help me make it….