Working at Home

I’ve always had a picture in my mind of how it would be to work at home. I don’t mean doing housework, or even pursuing a hobby or a cottage industry. I mean working at a job in an organization, a corporation, maybe, or a magazine. 

I remember reading a column written by a woman who worked at home and stayed in her pajamas and robe for most of the day, sitting at her computer, sipping coffee. I immediately identified with this writer. That would be the way I would do it, lacking the discipline to shower and dress first thing in the morning just to walk into the spare bedroom, power up my Mac, and start working.

I was exactly right, as experience has now shown. Two months ago I took on the task of re-creating a messy Web site with the assistance of an information technology team. Right away we needed to have a meeting. I hadn’t attended a meeting since I retired seventeen years ago, and dreaded it, but the meeting went well and I didn’t suffer.

Then it was time to work at home, doing everything via the Internet – gathering information, organizing it, writing about it, and communicating with IT people and an editor. It was a great way to pass the time while my arm was paralyzed.

Day by day, I noticed, I was getting dressed later and later. Finally, as the deadline neared, I wasn’t getting dressed until late afternoon. I was disgusted by my poor grooming habits, but didn’t change my ways.

Thankfully, the Web site task was finished yesterday. I got dressed this morning. Whew! I don’t want to “work at home” any more.