A Weekend is Not a Weekend ...

... when you have to work both days.

The hours before the morning/early afternoon shift are spent in count-down mode. How much longer until I must go to work? What can I get done with the time I have on hand? Is it worth starting doing anything that I can't finish? Tick ... tick ... tick ...

... the morning slips away.

The hours after the late afternoon shift is over (which is extended when asked if you can work a little longer; then you stick around to try and finish something before you leave your co-worker fighting against the clock to do what is expected), are spent finding nourishment of some sort and showering off 'the day'. Anything accomplished after that point is pure gravy.

... then you sleep.

It is an anxiety-ridden siesta as you can't stop the day from whirling past your eyes when you close them. It would be easier if you didn't have to go back to work the next morning. But you do. So you dream of the day over and over and over again.

... you wake up and try to give yourself the time you deserve in the morning.

Time for 'me' things. Reading, writing, doing word puzzles, puttering ...

But the phone rings at 8 a.m and they ask if you can come in an hour and a half early. Grateful as you are, that you have been given two hours notice of this change of schedule ... you wonder. This has only just begun. What is in store from here on???

The schedule change also includes an extra half-hour tacked on to the end of the day. Dare you hope that this means they will not ask you to stay longer than that?

Rinse and repeat the previous night.

Only your sleep is haunted by what you must get done at your other job. One more week where the two jobs collide. I am grateful that this cycle did not begin any sooner than this.

But I can't wonder ... how and when will all of this end???