It's been a while since I deleted my account, so can't remember how to get there (just found it in 30 seconds googling), and yes you do have to avoid logging in for x days (if I remember correctly it's either 30 or 90) before the deletion becomes permanent.
But that's a long way from not being able to delete your account at all.
Not interacting with Facebook sounds easy, but it's not.
You have to clear the caches on every browser on any computer that you've ever logged into Facebook with. You have to delete all native Facebook clients. You can't log into any site that uses Facebook Connect. You can't accidentally click on a Facebook 'like' button. You can't respond to any mails Facebook sends you or click on a Facebook related link. Etc etc.
If you so much as look in the direction of Facebook during the two weeks following your deletion request, it is canceled.
5 or 6 months, and all my data was still there.
After i deleted it again, 4mo later and it appeared deleted when i recreated. But 100% match on my 1st friend list and my 3rd installment of the account is weird