It’d be nice to refamiliarize with the term “direct deposit,” but…

These are the things I no longer know, since leaving the 9-5 world five years ago for the Land of Self-Employment:

• Paid vacation days
• Paid sick days
• Holiday parties
• 401(K) contributions [from myself or my employer]
• Guilt-free frivolous spending – unfortunately, I still spend frivolously, it’s just wracked with guilt
• Office volleyball team
• Health insurance with a $0 deductible; heck, health insurance with a deductible under $5000
• Dental insurance
• Co-worker happy hour
• Regular income
• A lot of income
• Free office food left over from conferences and board meetings
• Co-pays – everything’s out of pocket now
• Water cooler gossip
• A savings account that one can see without using a microscope
• Bonuses
• Hawaiian shirt Fridays
• Summer hours

But this is my office, just outside my bedroom door.  And I get to go to Amsterdam for two weeks in July and still have as many vacation days as I want.  And yesterday I spent the day hammering and potting and Home Depot’ing and water-sealant’ing in the bright sun, with a thirty-minute break to watch the Office UK in a deck chair with a glass of iced tea, while footage transferred inside.  And I work shoeless, in shorts and a tshirt.  And I get to go to Trader Joe’s, yoga, and the post office on random Thursday mornings, leaving my weekends to be week-endy.  And I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.