A Day of Nothing

Yesterday. I had no children at home. One was at work, another working in the mountains. Another with grandparents, and the last one at camp. I promise I didn't plan it that way, but for most of a week, Adam and I find ourselves here, at home, without children.

How very strange.

We had one of our Bible study groups over for supper on Monday evening. And ladies, you know what that means on Tuesday: there's absolutely NO housework to be done, because I worked like a frenzy to get EVERYTHING clean for Monday night.

So, yesterday I looked around. No housework. No kids. No laundry to do. Hardly any cooking -- it's like cooking in retirement, I suppose.

Yesterday stretched out before me, unfamiliar. Slow. Peaceful. Nothing. And for some reason, it became a most productive day. I clipped a few azalea bushes out front, but they're in full sun and I couldn't do it for long. Then I decided it was TRULY time to knock out some of this old school-year grading that was still hanging around. I did that. Lunch? Leftovers. I floated in the pool a while, but the sun was clouded over. I was bored. What to do? The afternoon was turning ever so slightly cool and breezy. If i ignored the calendar and the recent heat-wave, I could almost convince myself that it was very-early autumn. Almost.

I looked over at Adam's brick oven. On both sides were mounded piles of cut branches and debris for burning. And the pyromaniac buried in me responded. I would tidy up those piles all afternoon.

And I did. Now THAT was a productive afternoon! Adam got the fire started, and then I cut branches and thrust them into the blazing throat -- for hours. The smoke billowed in the lifting breeze. I sat in a lawn chair and watched it. You can't hurry a fire; you'll put it out by over-tending. So I forced myself to sit, wait, relax. That is the hardest thing to do. But when I do, it is most beneficial. I need the rest more than I ever need the work.

I have very-busy days when I can hardly remember what I did. Frankly, some busy days I feel like I spun my wheels and accomplished little of value. Yesterday was a welcome contrast to that.

Soon, the children will return, the schedule will pick up. It's days like yesterday though, that one remembers and turns into a picture in the mind.