For years, I had miserable, long commutes, the worst on public transportation and others almost as bad on traffic-clogged, nightmarish highways like Route 3, both North and South.
The average commute in Massachusetts is well under half an hour, and this week, I’ve been reminded what a difference in lifestyle a “normal” round-trip to work can mean.
This being August, it’s high season on the Cape for hundreds of activities, many of which aren’t even advertised.
This week, for example, I attended a puppet show in which my oldest grandchild performed; an outdoor concert at Heritage Plantation; and a classical performance at a local church. A friend and I were even able to have a celebratory after-work drink on Friday evening.
Being able to cram all this activity into a normal week would have been impossible in the old days.
Today, there are no fewer than four different events which I would like to attend: two art shows, the annual Onset Village Blues Festival, and a military tattoo in Falmouth.
This is, of course, in addition to any household chores, like the weekly transfer station run and possibly mowing a lawn.
All of this is made possible by the fact that I fell into a job about 20 minutes from my house, and the office is not only close by, but reachable by back roads with not a single traffic light.
There are other aspects of this job that turned out to be unexpected surprises, like the opportunity to work with Oracle again, to write a handheld application, and to integrate with a SAS package, all personal professional goals for quite some time.
I’ve done the commute from kitchen to second bedroom routine, and am grateful to have had the opportunity, but found that my workday quickly became a 24×7 proposition. While the isolation made me very self-reliant and more fearless than a regular employee, I did miss the social aspect of seeing other people.
Work is an important part of my life, and I want it to be intellectually stimulating and a source of personal satisfaction.
Still, being able to comfortably fit in the other aspects of living provides a balance that feels refreshingly new.