Today Whirl and I went in to the office to have lunch with everyone there. I haven’t been to the office since the Friday before the accident, back in January. It felt good to be back, even if I was there in a visitor mode, rather than as an actual worker. One of my good friends did ask me if anyone requested that I fix something — and the truth is, several people did. I took that as compliments.

We went to one of my favorite lunch spots, Hot Doug’s. Whirl had never been there, but had heard us talk about it all the time. Everyone had a really good time. I got a chance to catch up with people, and convince them that I was a living, breathing, walking, talking person. I did wear my Sox cap so that people could eat without looking at my Frankenstein head. (Stitches come out Friday, yay!)

What was particularly good about the trip, besides just seeing all of my friends — I found out that many of them had been to the hospital to visit me. Even while I was still in a coma. As I’ve said prevously, my memory of much of my recovery time in the hospital is completely missing. And I’m not certain I really want those memories back. I understand I was in pretty bad shape at the time.

Anyway, what was particularly good about the trip was the ability to talk to my boss and the HR people and put together a basic sketch of a plan to return to work. We talked about what sorts of benefits I have in terms of disability leave and the like, as well as available days (personal, sick, vacation, et cetera) that I can continue to spend. It looks like I’m going to have about three to four more weeks before I go on any sort of short-term disability program.

And given how I feel, and how I’ve progressed over the last couple weeks, I’m looking at that timeline and thinking it sounds pretty good. Three to four weeks to get myself in a place where I could get back to doing some legitimate work– and hopefully not breaking anything important, of course. I can do that.

If you ask me, in three to four weeks, I think I’ll be begging for the chance to do something real, rather than just staying at home, hoping my head grows back together.

My co-workers were extremely kind. Beyond words. They had pooled some money together and purchased the complete first season of Deadwood for me on DVD as a get-well present. I miss them. And lunch, yesterday, reminded me of all the reasons why.

Now. If I can just get better.