Hello friends. It’s been a long while since we last visited! Sorry for the major hiatus.
Returning to work has been good. It’s been a pretty smooth transition, I have to say. I was extremely worried about going back — but am amazed at how respectful everybody has been about my part-time schedule.
I never, in a million years, thought I’d say this — but practicing law again has been, well, downright rewarding and fulfilling. Utilizing that skill set and pushing myself intellectually – has been great. It’s so funny how losing a year to cancer can make you re-evaluate everything. It’s also funny to me how practicing law feels so right at this point in my life. I like the fact that it’s so structured and rule-based. I take comfort in that — and, it doesn’t hurt that I was on the business side of Stella & Dot pre-cancer, and fundamentally understand how the company works/operates. So applying legal concepts to the business comes naturally to me.
The absolute hardest thing about going back to work has been the fact that I have to remind myself that it’s 2013. I keep thinking it’s 2012 (from a business perspective as well) — but then need to remind myself that the past year has been a black hole for me — and that the company has grown a ton since I was last there.
Let me qualify that last statement, remembering what year it is, is not the absolute hardest thing about returning to work. Rather, it’s the physical and mental endurance piece that’s been the hardest. After three days (Mon-Wed) in the office, I literally need two days (Thur-Fri) to lay in bed and recover. By Saturday I feel like myself again — but it’s dang rough on me.
This past week was particularly hard b/c we had company for Thanksgiving and we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for 8 (and went to a friends holiday party and my niece’s Nutcracker ballet performance). When I’m on the go non-stop and don’t have a couple days built in to relax, it all sort of goes to hell in a hand basket.
On Monday I was whining to Paul that I went back to work too early, and that I couldn’t possibly get through the work week. Well, true to form, Paul was having none of it. He pushed my ass right out of bed and wouldn’t allow me to make excuses. So off to work I went, and it was difficult for me, but I muddled through (and made the wise decision to outsource a few projects to outside counsel).
Sadly, this week was no better for me. I’m coming off of a crazy Thanksgiving weekend, just finished a crazy three-day work week, and am now jumping into more craziness. We had dinner with friends last night, a holiday party tomorrow night, a wedding in LA on Sunday, the Warner Brothers back lot tour Monday, and then back to work Tues-Thurs. Whoosh, I got tired just typing all of that!
In any event, I know from my WordPress stats, that most of you really enjoy seeing pictures. So let me indulge ya’ll (read the slideshow captions).
xoxo,
A
Comfortably Numb 
Yay pictures! Love the hairdos, clothes, the tree, special guest stars, table settings, photo titles… also great to get the rest of the story on how things turned out after the first day of school. Transitions are the toughest…not bad going from cold to colder but from warm and toasty to freezing…oooh….that’s why growing up in Buffalo is such a worthwhile experience. Love and looking forward to the next episode.