Grateful back-from-Miami

I feel like years have passed.

Isn't that weird, how a trip to a new place, even when you're with the people you see every single day, can make you feel like somehow time is passing more slowly, and when you return to your "real" world, you can't decide if this is actually reality and you dreamed the trip, or the other way around. That's how I felt last night, riding with my husband over to Sonic for dinner after he picked me up at the office.

Of course it probably didn't help that I had been up until 4 a.m. the night before and had a 7:30 breakfast meeting that day with a client. I don't do well on 3 hours of sleep. But I had to stay up because I had to find out how long a coworker, Stacy, was going to stay out. The night before she was downstairs at the hotel bar with a couple of male clients until nearly 2 a.m. The boss had a conversation with her the next day about how inappropriate that is, what with other people (aka potential clients) watching and with never knowing what someone's true intentions are. She proceeded to go out again that same night, which was fine at first because she had other female employees with her, but when they left and she insisted on staying by herself with no one but male clients, she made herself again into a liability for the company.

So I fired her today. Or, rather, the leadership team met, discussed how to fire her (because is it really a question at this point?), and then after coming back into my office was approached by Stacy who said, "Are you going to fire me now?"

This woman and I have never gotten along. She's loud, pretentious, immature, and loves to be the center of attention. She creates drama wherever she goes, making her practically my exact opposite, and not in a good way. I was planning on at least slightly enjoying this firing, because truthfully I get no joy out of it even when I don't like the person, but she took all that away from me by being completely understanding and cooperative. Amazing coming from someone who previously has shown so much immaturity. But I'm glad it's over and the best decision was made.

And so, today I'm grateful for several things. I'm grateful to still have a job, to be smart enough to understand that when the boss says something it goes whether I completely agree or not, and that the actual firing was painless for me and at least somewhat less painful for her.

I'm also grateful to be home. Miami is beautiful but it's no place I'd want to live, at least not unless I owned a private key somewhere off shore. I was so happy to be back in my bed and back with my husband. There's nothing better than your own bed after a long trip, especially when it has clean sheets. I will be grateful to have my suitcase unpacked and my clothes clean tonight as well. We're planning a quiet night, catching up on Tivo-ed tv from the week, maybe with a delivered pizza or Chinese take out. Tomorrow I don't plan on leaving the couch very much either.