Waiting for Godot

I'm excited for tomorrow. I get to see Waiting for Godot by the Gate Theater from Dublin. I saw the play when UMS had the Gate Theater come through Ann Arbor back in 2000 or so. It was one of the three big events that lead up to me taking my first leave of absence.

How you ask? Well, when I saw Godot, I really took it as a message about my life. I really don't take metaphors from performances too well but the time was right for this one. I saw Godot as being the end. At different times the end either meant death or retirement. I didn't want to be Waiting for Godot which is how I felt by just going to work everyday. I realized I needed to get out of the cycle. I couldn't just go to work everyday forever. It provided the REALIZATION.

The other two influences for me to take my leave of absence were:

• I received the book, "Six Months Off" which gave me the COURAGE to believe that I could take a leave from work. Honestly, this may be the most influential gift that I've ever gotten. I read it straight through very quickly which is not common for me to do with non-fiction books. It helped me plot on how to get out of work as well as make me feel comfortable with the decision financially both of which were huge hurdles for me.
• Finally, I received an email requesting volunteers for an archaeological dig in Peru for the summer of 2001 from the University of Michigan Anthropology Undergraduate Newsletter. This provided me with the perfect OPPORTUNITY. A doctoral student at the University of North Carolina was going down to do some field research and was looking for help. It was something that I always wanted to do and I already knew I knew the Andean region.

Things came together very quickly after these events happened and I was off in April 2001 for three months. After I left, I asked for another month and didn't come back to work until September. If these events didn't happen, I wouldn't have gone to grad school either, because I would have been too afraid to ask for time off.

The big question is why am I thinking about this now...is it because "Waiting for Godot" is in town...or could it be that I just started a new job and I am already planning my next temporary escape?