When I first saw the official-looking letter, I got worried for a second. After all, you don’t expect to get mail from federal court.

But then I looked closer. The envelope was not that fat so it didn’t have lots of documents in there. No one had to sign for it, so it couldn’t have really bad news. That’s when I figured it out.

I excitedly grabbed the letter opener and got to work. Sure enough, I had received the special prize I eventually deduced – a summons for jury duty.

Now some of you might groan when reading that and want to share a message of sympathy. But you don’t get it. I love jury duty.

One magical week a few years ago, I got the chance to spend a week on jury duty at the county courthouse. I loved that week. I didn’t have to wake up very early, got paid above and beyond my work salary and had the chance to take part in a fascinating, albeit minor, court case.

I had no idea what the people complaining about jury duty could mean. So what if you had to sit for long stretches with nothing to do before getting picked for a case. They had free coffee, and the people-watching was exquisite.

I have waited for a second chance for five years now with no luck. Until that envelope with the yellow piece of paper arrived. They had called me up to the big leagues. I might have the chance to go to Harrisburg and strut my stuff.

Then I read the whole notice and started to feel different. The summons covered the whole month of June. I had to call each week to see if they needed my services.

Normally I would jump for joy at the chance to spend a whole month on jury duty, but did it have to be this month? I have a lot of stuff going on.

I emerged unscathed. Each time I logged into the website to see if I would make the list, I had to balance the rush I would get from possibly sitting on a jury with the reality that my calendar had a bunch of commitments, including my first chance to give a presentation at an important work conference.

When I bring this up, people tell me to simply get excused. The letter I got pretty much told me that “being really busy” wouldn’t fly as an excuse. I got the feeling that saying I had died might not even get my corpse out of reporting.

So, on one hand, I’ll breathe a sigh of relief if I don’t have to serve on a jury, but I’ll also have a twinge of regret. I had to wait more than five years to get my second summons. How long will some court administrator wait to again give me the chance to serve in my dream job?

I just wish they would check first. My calendar is really filling up.