The elementary school called yesterday, to tell me the youngest was sick. After three or four phone calls to re-arrange meetings, I picked her up and home we went. When we walked through the doors, it was around 11:45 am.
She quickly settled in with a ginger ale and new Barbie movie, leaving me to contemplate the many choices that lay before me. I had to stay home, of course, so running errands was out. Pay bills? Organize the fall/winter clothes we've pulled from storage? Actually thaw something and plan dinner? Delve into more revisions on the WIP?
I slept.
I crawled into bed between the sleeping eight year old and the ecstatic squirming puppy, moving two sleeping kittens off the pillows, and crashed for a hour or so. It was decadent, delicious--everyone else was at work, solving problems, keeping the paperwork Gods happy, but I was asleep in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. Scandalous!
Wonderful.
I almost ruined it by waking up and feeling guilty, but I decided to keep (another) running list of things I could do if faced with an unexpected day off in the near future, instead. So next time, I'll be the model of efficiency.
Probably. :)
If the Time Gods handed you three unencumbered hours (no work, no husband, no sick kiddos), do you know what you would do? Has it been so long since you had three unclaimed (and conscious!) hours you would spend them in shock? Or do you make it a point to plan time just for yourself?
10 comments:
You mean besides write? Play on the playstation! Final Fantasy here I come!
That sounds like (addictive!) fun :) I like to play this yahoo game where a little grandmother is on an island being chased by a native while she rescues her little cats--mindless, but loads of entertainment.
You know, I've written (but not yet posted) a blog along these lines. I have 3 hours every morning, from the time my husband leaves for work until I do. I waste them nearly every day, but I need that time to gradually wake up and reacquaint myself with the world!
Hope everyone is feeling better.
Thanks Maggie. You know how it is in school, if one person has it, a hundred more are just waiting to pass it along.
I'm a big fan of quiet time, myself ;)
This almost NEVER happens to me, and when it does, I literally don't know what to do with myself. But if I try to fall asleep, I never can. :(
Naps are WONDERFUL!
That's because you're still in "Mommy alert" mode, Tessa. It gets better as they grow.
Ericka--Naps rock! ;)
I'm with Tessa, this almost never happens, but if it did...I'd go to the bathroom without worrying if someone was going to bang on the door and tell me something that could wait five minutes.
I'd take a shower and take my time, not wondering if somebody was going to barge in because they had to go to the bathroom.
I'd read a book.
I'd write.
I'd watch television with the remote in MY hand.
I'd...get it all in because it never happens.
Well, I might opt for the "productive nap". You know, the kind where you go to sleep and wake up with a scene writing itself in your head. Best of both worlds! Sounds like you made a good choice, Gillian. How sweet, with the puppy, kittens and febrile child! Awww!
Hi, Renee and India!
Yeah, it does hardly ever happen. And by the next time it does, she won't be so little and cuddly (sniff.) I remember curling up with her on a winter day and napping on an old couch. And then all of a sudden-they are two years older.
So it was blog-worthy.
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