A Down Day

Ah, holidays…

Who doesn’t love a holiday? It’s a welcome break from the hustle, bustle, and general busyness of work.  An opportunity to break free from schedules, deadlines, and conference calls that seem to never end.  It’s a respite from demanding clients and arbitrary timelines.  As we approached celebrating our nations 234th birthday this year, I was looking forward to a nice three-day weekend for Independence Day. 

Except for one problem.

“We had a lot of fun today!”" “ Well, it’s time to say bye-bye!” “Enjoy your 4-day weekend!” enthuses my day-care provider.

What 4-day weekend? I don’t have a 4-day weekend.  I have a 3-day weekend… 

Oh.

So our base decided to throw in a Down Day on Friday giving most everyone on base a nice 4-day weekend.  Basically when you have a Down Day EVERYTHING on base shuts down.  Including the CDC and base affiliated daycares.  Like mine.  Since I don’t live or work on base I found out about said Down Day the day before it happened. 

Now don’t get me wrong.  I don’t begrudge our service men and women their time off.  Lord knows they deserve it.  At the same time though, for as much as they try to promote the “modern military” to spouses and families, the truth of the matter is that working professional spouses with careers outside of the military are still a relative minority. And it shows in a lot of the military’s decision making.  I mean it’s a fact that we are a nation at war and because of that war many of our brave service men and women are deploying overseas leaving their families behind.  Families that depend on childcare if the spouse is working in the private sector to help support the household.  Who don’t get a “down day.”  See what I’m getting at?

Down Days are great and we should keep having them.  But c’mon, how about a little help for those of us that work and whose wife/husband is deployed?  At least find a way to let me know in advance so I can plan around it.

I guess that’s enough complaining.  All in all it didn’t turn out too bad.  I still worked that day and my daughter was surprisingly well-behaved.  I think there was only one conference call that day where she shrieked loud enough to be heard.  I have also discovered that 1-3pm is my most productive part of the day (nap time). My office is a mess though.

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One quick note, lest anyone think I’m upset at my daycare provider.  I’m not.  She’s great actually and I really, really value her help. Often times my only source of information as to what’s happening on base, which isn’t how it should be.  It’s the Air Force’s reaching out to the families of deployed airmen that needs a little more work.