Noticing

I've gone back to work this week, and I'm trying to hold on to some sense of holiday. 

One thing that means for me is noticing. Noticing the magnolia tree as I walk between buildings. Noticing the tea kitty has run out of milk, and popping to get some more even though it's not my job, because nobody should have to go without tea. Noticing the sunlight streaming through the office windows. 

It's so easy to slip back into a spiral of head-down work, staring at the screen, dashing from one room to another. Mine is interesting work, and so it's easy to forget when I'm there that there's a life outside. But I'm noticing this new job has a seasonal quality I didn't have in my old job, that the pace and type of work changes with the seasons, and after a winter and early spring of frenetic activity, I'm looking forward to some long, lazy summer days of reading and working in the garden (maybe even a new garden). 

(Having said that, there's plenty I don't know about this job yet, and chances are I'll be back in September, wondering where my long, lazy summer went).