The end of summer workcation

We returned home late last night shortly before midnight. Over the weekend, we attended the Bar Mitzvah of David's nephew in Pittsburgh. As we traveled home in the cab from the airport, I whispered to my sleepy Emma to savor the very last delicious seconds of summer. The first day of third grade would be coming early in the morning. At midnight, I said, the summer would be officially over. 

The summer for me was a home, work and workcation blur.  Workcation is a vacation with embedded work related email/calls. A workcation is also a work related trip (like a conference) to a nice location with vacation time embedded into an afternoon or added to the front or back end of the business trip.   Smart phone technology and high speed internet in hotels make workcations possible. An understanding family is also helpful.  I work at home in my home office, so I am comfortable with the blurring of personal and professional time and space.  A workcation is simply the mixing of work and family time on the road.



While this summer was full of work/personal travel for me, I look forward to the grounded rhythm of the start of a school year .... new notebooks, new backpacks, new shoes, new friends, new teachers, new hallways, new desks.  Everything is new, yet familiar.  As a parent, I still get to experience the excitement and optimism of a new school year.  Yes, Emma, my big third grade girl, the summer is over.  We made it to home base last night with just seconds to spare.