It's time.

Today is my last day of work.

It became a choice between being a mother or a marketeer...

... and of course, the former won out.

Since I've been working 10-to-14-hour days for 16 years, I am looking forward to the gift of time that my new adventure will bring.

Time to enjoy a weekday meal with the kids - something I didn't have because I could barely make it home before bedtime, what more dinner?

Time to enjoy several chapters of a book in one sitting - rather than a few pages every night before bedtime.

Time to fix & organize the house and find out where the string of helpers, that have come and gone all these years, have tucked away our things.

Time to just enjoy a cup of coffee - without also thinking about work or also actually tapping away on my computer to finish a presentation or also reading a book to cram more me-activities in the rare half-hour me-time windows I was lucky to get.

Time to have lunch with my girlfriends (Who doesn't dream of being one of those 'ladies who lunch'? I often wondered with envy how there always seems to be so many of them during the few times I am at the mall on a weekday. It doesn't help that I had to file a vacation leave to be there that day.).

Time to learn something new - like maybe photography?

Time to travel without having to schedule it when there are the most holidays or take red-eye flights so I can leave after work or arrive in time for work the next day. 

Time to surf & blog & scrapbook & maybe even write a book.

Yes, I look forward to the time I will have on my hands starting tomorrow. But today, it's time to say goodbye to the life I've known for 16 years.

Photos from everythingfab, playtimebreak, pinkwallpaper, annnniegirl and fromainsleywithlove.