Interstitial Week

One of my favorite words, which first came to my attention back in the early '90s, is interstitial. The merriam-webster.com definition of interstitial is "relating to or situated in the interstices." Taking that a step back, the same source's definition (well, one of them, anyway) of interstice is "a short space of time between events." Those events, at least in my neck of the woods, would be the religious-cum-retail holiday of Christmas and the "we need another excuse to party" holiday of New Year's.

Interstitial week has always been interesting everywhere I have worked. It's the time a lot of people take off to burn extra vacation or PTO time that they might otherwise lose--yes, I have been guilty of such an offense in the past, I freely admit. It's also a time when those coworkers who do come in seem to relax a bit and be a bit more casual in their approach to their jobs. There are always exceptions, of course--some people are just wound too tightly to ever really relax, and I do have a few of them around me in my current workplace this week.

Whether you are working or not over the next few days, I wish you a Happy Interstitial Week. Don't work too hard.