Monday, January 21, 2008

Let's see ... what did I do today?

Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.
Oh yeah ... I slept til 9:30, was at the pool with my Bible and stuff by 10:00. Decided to read some Psalms for a change, prayed a bit, then picked up where I left off in my Anne Lamott book.
By noon, Sandra, Maxine and Rozann came out to join me. We talked about answered prayer, being in the midst of things that are bigger than us, and things that are pure, lovely, excellent, noble and good.

Lunch was a plate of fresh vegetables (you would not believe how flavourful the carrots are here) and then we talked some more. Because we're women, and really? There can never be too much conversation.

At 5:00, Sandra and I went for a walk in the neighbourhood and wondered why we hadn't done it before this afternoon. What's that all about? We coulda been walking the loop every day.

All of us did something to get supper ready, and by 7:00, we all sat down to a BBQ Chicken, roast potato, cesaer salad meal with a fresh, juicy, in season, fruit salad for dessert. At one point we all just sat there in silence absorbing the perfectness of the meal. "Remember this moment," I suggested. "It might be a while before circumstances allow us to experience something as wonderful as this again..." And it was wonderful. This whole time in Mexico has been wonderful.

As much as I miss my kids, I'm loving this time of not being a mom. Not having to argue about why we need to get up at least 20 minutes before school starts. Not having to argue about going to bed before midnight on a school night. Not having to have discussions on brushing teeth, eating something for breakfast, not drinking 6 cans of pop a day, doing homework, taking out the garbage, passing Math 10, finding a church, sitting at the table for longer than 4 minutes for a meal, not being on MSN for 10 hours a day. Man, my back is tensing up just typing that out.

After supper, Wayne, Maxine, Sandra and I played 3 more games of Rummikub. That would bring the total to about 15 games so far on this trip. I've lost them all. I just don't have that killer-need-to-win gene in me. I simply love being part of the group. I'm thankful that they let a loser like me play.

Again, Rose was down for the night by 9. Sandra and Maxine by 11:00, and Wayne by 11:30. I'm hanging with a sleepy crowd this trip. And a hearing impaired one. I CANNOT believe how often we have to repeat ourselves. Oh. My. Goodness. Every conversation is repeated at least once, often twice. AND IT'S DRIVING ME MENTAL. I finally asked, "are we going deaf, or just too lazy to track a conversation? Seriously."

An example:
"So, we were with John and Sue at Big White two weeks ago and the snow was ridiculous," person A says to person B.
"Pardon? What was ridiculous?" person C says, entering into the conversation.
"The snow at Big White," person B says.
"What? Who was at Big White?" person D says, looking up from her book.
"I was there with John and Sue," person A says again.
"Who?" asks person C.
"I don't think you know who they are. We went to blah blah church with them when we were first married," person A explains.
"Huh? You went to Big White when you were first married?" asks person D.
"No, we were at Big White two weeks ago" clarifies person A.
"How was the snow?" asks person D.

Tomorrow I'm going to keep a tally and will report to you how often someone asked for something to be repeated. I did it tonight for a few minutes, but stopped at 5 times. Then we talked about hearing aids and failing eyesight for awhile.

You know what? I really needed this. This time that is void of crisises. This time of no agendas. No deadlines. No snow. No rain. No reason to put on shoes. Today I pondered out loud how long a person could last with no responsibilities. A week? Two weeks? A month? How long could a person be totally selfish and simply go from day to day doing nothing execpt actively persue laziness. I've been at it for 10 days and it still feels good.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. This holiday. It's been a gift.
2. Anne Lamott. Her books always make me smile.
3. Fresh, sweet, juicy, just-picked pineapple.

Shalom,

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Iv'e been pondering the same thing...how long?
Marg

Anonymous said...

Just think about the pros of hanging with "partially deaf" friends -- no complaints about your very loud night time "serenading" :)

Enjoy the memories.

Gail