Week 4. It’s been almost a month since I last logged on to the work network and email volume is down to a slow trickle. This is officially the longest stretch that I’ve ever been off.  It’s taken ’till now to shake the constant feeling (guilt?) that I need to be working. And I’ve definitely noticed a change in my demeanor. More relaxed and patient (although my oldest son may not fully agree with this assessment).  

Another great week of family vacation at the lake. Highlights include:

The quest for the wakesurf 360. This continues to be the elusive holy grail move on the wakesurf board. Everyone is close(ish) and wants family bragging rights for landing the first one. To that end I went out and bought my own board this week, better suited for the “husky gentleman”. Despite not working, I still have the financial means to buy my way to victory over the kids. Tune in next week for the results (smart money is still betting on my daughter).

Windsurfing. Brought my 1988 hot pink Mistral windsurfer out of retirement (for full disclosure, I only bought it 5 years ago on Kijiji, used it once, and it’s been in the garage ever since, as the thing proved to be much harder to ride than I remember when I was 15.)  My oldest son saw it and thought it looked cool.  After 30 minutes to assemble it and about 5 minutes of trying to ride it, he concluded the same thing.  This may be the reason this sport has been on the decline since the 80’s. Unrelated, but freestyle ballet skiing also peaked at the 1988 Calgary Olympics… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvk4PpFORD4

Daughter’s birthday party. It’s a much-anticipated annual celebration at the lake with many branches of the family tree in attendance. It’s always special, but 13 is a big one. It’s yet another reason why I’m doing this sabbatical now, as I’m afraid that we’ll soon lose her temporarily to the teenage years and the “troubles” that they bring… Happy birthday sweetheart!

P.S. The day was definitely not about me, but I would note that my new specialty summer cocktail, Spicy Watermelon Margaritas, was a hit with the adults at the party…

Don’t forget to follow our fun on Instagram: @sabbaticaldadjon

Apologies to my loyal blog followers who were looking for a new weekly update yesterday.  I’m on Okanagan time now. This past week, and for the next couple, I’m actually on sabbatical from my sabbatical. It’s our “official” annual family vacation at the lake.  This is where we would be, even if I was still “working”.  But this time around it does feel different. Way better.  No lingering work issues and email chains.  Straight to holiday mode.

I’m not sure that I’m going to be able to advance some of my bigger picture sabbatical goals during this time.  The days aren’t quite as productive. I’ve been sleeping in every morning, hanging out with the kids on the dock/boat during the day, and then happy hour tends to roll around pretty quick.  Although, now that I write it down, that’s exactly the goal of the sabbatical…

I’m still approaching vacation sabbatical life with the same philosophy and mindset, enjoy the moment and looking for new life experiences. For example, I tackled the Thursday farmer’s market on my own for the first time. What a scam that place is.  Spent more cash than that night in Vegas. I’m now considering growing Kale and making artisanal soap as a lucrative new career.  Although I will say that the $20 avocado lavender body bar is very nice.

This week’s (slightly less ambitious) project has been to develop a new Sabbatical Dad summer cocktail. Still working on the prototype but have landed on the concept: Spicy Watermelon Margherita. Tune in next week for the recipe.  (This is going to cost a fortune in mellons at the market on Thursday.)

Note that I’m slowly turning Sabbatical Dad into a multi-media empire.  Be sure to now check us out on Instagram at SabbaticalDadJon.

Also will try to figure out how to get a “subscribe” button on the blog for real time notification of new and exciting posts. I will message my website help desk in India. Let you know how that goes…

Two weeks in, I’ve now started to feel much more at ease with the sabbatical.  No longer caring what people are thinking when I’m walking around in a t-shirt and shorts at 11am on a “workday”.  Still no earth-shattering revelations of self, but am starting to shift my mindset to take advantage of this time to accomplish interesting projects and live new adventures with the family (witness the death defying hike up to the summit of Rundle mountain on Sunday).  Lots of other noteworthy moments this week:

Monday – Thought I’d start a new morning routine this week…began the day with a brisk walk. I’ve seen the older ladies in the neighborhood doing this and they seem happy. I think they’re on to something here. I also downloaded an audio book on self-betterment to listen to on the walk.  Two birds with one stone.

Tuesday – Picked up my lumber at Home Depot, have my picnic table design instructions downloaded from the web, so ready to go.  A wise carpenter (Jesus?) once said “Measure twice, cut once”. Disappointingly, my family had very little faith in me being able to accomplish this task successfully. But I nailed it.  Literally.  And all fingers accounted for (albeit riddled with splinters).  See glorious finished product above. Next up, ark?

Weds – Today Liverpool FC was officially crowned as “football” Champions of England for the first time in 30 years. This had little to do with me or my sabbatical, but needless to say it was the highlight of my day.  It also made me think about sports gambling as an alternate source of income during this break?

Thursday – Have had a Jeep Wrangler for 3+ years now without taking it off-roading. In fact, it’s hardly been off the road on which I commute downtown. So, today’s project was to remove the roof and the doors to at least make it “cool looking” for my city driving. Turns out the hinges and bolts have long since corroded together. This proved to be a very expensive project after a trip to the mechanic.  At least they are now removed and Jeep looks cool.  Hopefully it doesn’t rain for a while because it’s a real pain to put them back on.  (Note: it poured later that afternoon…)

Friday – Time for some more quality dad and son time, so took my eldest to an empty parking lot and started to teach him how to drive a manual transmission car. He’s big on the “Fast and the Furious” movie series.  This was hardly illegal drag racing of super-cars (Honda CRV) on the mean streets of Havana (SW Calgary) but I could tell he enjoyed it. Not sure if it was the smell of burning clutch, the repeated jolts from the engine stalling, or the 80’s music on the radio, but it vividly took me right back to the same moments I had with my dad. Just another reminder of how fast time has gone by. That’s why I’m doing this.

Not sure what I was expecting, but I wouldn’t say that I had any great spiritual awakenings this first week. To be honest, it didn’t seem all that different from the past 3 months of COVID working from home. Except less Powerpoint, more chores.

My wife has seized upon this opportunity to top up the job jar. She’s feeling great about the sabbatical so far, while I’ve only gotten moderate fulfillment from cleaning mildew off the shower ceiling.

Amazing how the week flew by. I’m going to have to focus more on making a plan.

Here’s this past week’s highlights:

Monday (day 1) – Slept in till 9:30. Felt great, but not going to be a sustainable practice if I want to get sh*t done. Played my first round of golf of the season. A bit cliche, but seemed appropriate.

Tuesday – As I stepped outside our front door first thing in the morning, saw friends from down the street driving to work. Sucks for them. This is starting to feel real.

Weds – Weigh in day. The scale is unforgiving. Making a fitness plan. Dropping a few lbs will be one key measure of sabbatical success.

Thurs – Have always daydreamed while driving in to work of just enjoying the summer mornings with a walk along the river. Did it. Me and my youngest son walked to the pastry shop for a pain au chocolat and a crepe. Best morning.

Friday – Came up with my first project. Literally my first project, as I’m not handy and have never built anything. Going to build a picnic table from scratch for the back yard. Ordered lumber. That felt empowering. Tune in next week to see how it goes with the electric miter saw.

PS: The fact that I’ve even been able to create this blog platform on the interweb this week may prove to be the greatest achievement of the entire sabbatical.