In the 40+ years that I worked full-time before retiring recently, I was always, always, very aware of the holidays, especially what we know as the "Monday Holidays". Not everyone gets the holidays as paid holidays at work, but I was lucky that my various places of work almost always observed all these holidays.
I was always very aware also so I could request the Friday before the holiday weekend as a vacation day off. With exceptions, because of my line of work, I could usually take that extra long 4-day weekend.
It wasn't that I usually traveled during these holiday, I seldom did through the years, but it was the peace of having more than two days to have my own schedule, or more often, to take on a project at home like going through closets. Sometimes it was taking part in special holiday related events in the area.
Now between being retired and the pandemic cancelling many in-person events, I barely remember there is a holiday coming up this weekend. As an older retired friend once said to me, "in retirement, every day is a weekend."
I have to confess that I miss the expectation and excitement leading up to the Monday Holidays when I was in the workforce. I miss discussing weekend holiday plans with co-workers, even if I myself often didn't have any. And yes, I miss the expectation as was the case in some jobs early in my work life, that the boss would let us go home early the day before the holiday weekend. Those were good bosses 😀
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