Returning

I returned to work today, after just a few days away. The thing is, I was so "away," mentally, at least--my time filled with numerous personal errands that needed full attention--that it almost felt as though I'd been gone for weeks.

As I re-acclimated to being in a workplace, focused on the tasks at hand and the people to whom I am responsible, however, what I realized (aside from how tired personal stuff can make you) was how grateful I was that there was work to return to. (Forgive me, all the English teachers in my life, for the preposition at the end of the sentence!)
 
Any number of times in the last few years, "returning" from personal business days would simply have meant returning to job listings and focus on a phone that didn't ring or an inbox filling with junk mail instead of job mail. Returning was certainly not a relief--rather, it was an obligation, and an often unforgiving one at that.
 
So today, when I returned to people who had missed me, and tasks that, after a short re-entry time, I knew exactly how to accomplish, I breathed a sigh of relief. And smiled a smile of gratitude.
 
Time away, even just mentally, may be important, but having somewhere where you can return makes that time seem a whole lot better.