Break In Service

It is a pension term, really, denoting a period of time not worked for the union or other benefits-granting organization. It can signal a kind of jeopardy--lack of work, combined with the risk of forfeiting certain long-term perks of working.

Today, thankfully, a "break in service" is just a day or two of time in my pajamas, less focus on alarms, and hours spent closer to home. Today, the "break in service" is not about losing a job, it is simply about winning a little time to breathe, to do, to live.

It is hard sometimes, after "breaks in service" that were far more real and more extended than I would have chosen, to take any "break in service" as a good thing. Thus, we freelancers tend to choose the alarms and the schedules and the longest strings of working days we can get. But perhaps I am making a little more peace with my freelance self, because I kind of like the pajamas once in a while. I am making a little more peace with my freelance life, because I finally know that a break doesn't always mean a loss. Maybe I am making a little more peace with my freelance world, because I can have hours when I am just "me, the person," not "me the freelancer."

The official term is what it is, and I will avoid that version at all costs. But for today, a day or two "break in service" was just what I needed. Because, thankfully, I know that there is a return on the other side. Because sometimes, a break in service is really just a break.