Surprises, Pleasant and Otherwise

I did return to work today after calling out yesterday because of the bad knee...and I found out I'd have to lose my extra holiday pay because of it! I had no idea you lose your extra pay if you call out the day before or after you work on a holiday. I talked Donna, one of the head managers, into making yesterday a personal day. (Which it was, really.) I need that extra money for vacation.

(Other than that, work was busy and passed without incident.)

I ended up having a lovely evening, though. My uncle picked me up around quarter of 5 (I had to do some grocery shopping I couldn't put off after work) and invited me to a birthday party some neighbors and their children were holding in his pool. (He's very close with most of his neighbors; he's probably known some for decades.) I spent at least an hour and a half in the pool and kept my knee on a raft or flotation device for almost the entire time.

The kids were a lot of fun, though most of them had been swimming for hours by the time I arrived. The adults were a bit on the tipsy side by that point, but some of them did join us; two of the fathers amused their offspring with three or four variations on cannonballs. A long tube that shot water was also a big hit. One cute young lady (the birthday girl, in fact) was just learning how to swim and spent at least an hour on a body board.