That title is supposed to be funny. Because it is a joke.
Consultants and the self-employed don’t get vacations. And yet, here I am! On Not-A-Vacation!

All this week, I am going to be blogging (and working!) from various locations. In fact, that is one of the primary reasons I am so late with my post today. Yesterday, my husband and I kissed the children goodbye as they went off for a week with their father (yes, I am divorced and re-married), packed the car, and drove eight hours to South Bend, Indiana. We live in Northern Missouri, and my husband, a religion professor, is in the middle of a six-week seminar at Notre Dame.

Today, we have been in South Bend at his rental house, which is a little bizarre. Last night, I looked through the CDs on the headboard of his bed and felt like I was hooking up with some guy and looking through the stuff in his room for the first time. Tomorrow through Thursday, we will be in Chicago (seminars take field trips! Who knew?), then back to South Bend, and then I will drive home Friday afternoon. It’s complicated.

In the midst of all of this travel, I also have deadlines. In my life as a medical editor, I have a major deadline this week. It is a project that I have been working on every single day for the past three weeks. It is, in a word, Challenging. So, for the past three weeks, especially since my husband has been out of town and I have been flying solo not only as the boss and employee of my company but also as a single mother, I have been a little stressed out.

Last week, I went to the doctor for my yearly physical exam, and my blood pressure was high for me. I should clarify that usually my blood pressure is so low that it’s questionable whether I am even alive. But I pride myself on this. I depend on this. So, to have my blood pressure suddenly quite higher than normal was very alarming. I came home and could swear that I could feel my blood pulsing through my body. I could swear that I could feel my heart beating. This sensation persisted for… well, that was Thursday and this is Monday, and I am just now starting to calm down a little bit. A change of scenery, even with deadlines looming, has done me a world of good. I don’t have any stressors associated with this house, these rooms, these walls. So, I have been able to work and also spend a little time visiting Touch Down Jesus at Notre Dame University.

Don’t get me wrong. I would love to take a normal vacation sometime. I am wondering whether that has happened since I embarked on self-employment two years ago. Nothing comes to mind. It is part of the trade off. But it could be worse: If I weren’t a consultant and I had a deadline like this, I would be sitting in a cubicle and working through my holiday without overtime pay, and my husband would be two states away without me.

What are your vacations like? Do you actually get to have them?