Just One Day?
Ell and I took a day off work yesterday, not for illness,..... we couldn't get out of our driveway! Ell worked on getting up to a 1/2 inch of ice off the cars, and I spent about four hours shoveling and pushing and digging and piling the white stuff so we could make it onto the road. It wasn't fun. I may have even aggravated an old surgery injury. But that's another story. Whenever I work alone outside my mind starts to wander and I usually end up thinking about various psychological scenarios of life. Yesterday's thoughts started with the questions, "Why am I even bothering to dig out? Do I really need to go anywhere? Is work really all that important that it can't do without me for a day or two?" All of which took me to another thought.
Our world has gotten so fast paced and hectic that it almost seems impossible to take a day off from anything. Work is so stinking important we can't miss it. The kid's activities are so vital they can't skip a single event. And so much more. Most of those thoughts revolve around the pressures that are placed on us and sometimes we place on ourselves. We see so many things still going and happening and we almost feel lazy or that we'll be left behind or lose something if we don't go about our daily schedules. Even in the face of roads that are impassable or temperatures that are deadly.
But what if.........think about this for second.........what if......... everything, everywhere, for an entire day, was closed?! (I'm not talking about emergency services, just everything else.) Schools, businesses, churches, community events and centers, gas stations, everything. There was no where you could go and no where to be. I almost wonder if we could handle it in 2007. Could we? Could people make their own food and not depend on the restaurant they always go to for breakfast? Or lunch and dinner? Could parents be creative enough to entertain the kids without just plopping them in front of the tube? Could husbands and wives remember how to have a good conversation that lasted more than a minute? Could young people spend quality time with their family instead of always having to be on the go? Could it happen?
I have to think that some people just couldn't do it. They'd be restless and whiny and depressed. How sad is that? How sad that so many people have lost the ability to relax and just enjoy life. I hate winter and I hate having to deal with the byproduct of the season, but yesterday was an awesome day. I had breakfast with my wife for the first time in a long time. We sat around and talked for a long time. When we finally got out of the driveway, we leisurely strolled through the grocery store with no time pressures. (I know, against my question, big picture please!) We enjoyed not having to be anywhere or do anything. I spent an entire 24 hours with my wife for the first time in years and years. It was great.
The STUFF in life ain't that big a deal, people. Take some time and smell the roses. That thing you had to do will still be there tomorrow. And if not you didn't need it anyway. And if I've never said it before, all of you are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
Our world has gotten so fast paced and hectic that it almost seems impossible to take a day off from anything. Work is so stinking important we can't miss it. The kid's activities are so vital they can't skip a single event. And so much more. Most of those thoughts revolve around the pressures that are placed on us and sometimes we place on ourselves. We see so many things still going and happening and we almost feel lazy or that we'll be left behind or lose something if we don't go about our daily schedules. Even in the face of roads that are impassable or temperatures that are deadly.
But what if.........think about this for second.........what if......... everything, everywhere, for an entire day, was closed?! (I'm not talking about emergency services, just everything else.) Schools, businesses, churches, community events and centers, gas stations, everything. There was no where you could go and no where to be. I almost wonder if we could handle it in 2007. Could we? Could people make their own food and not depend on the restaurant they always go to for breakfast? Or lunch and dinner? Could parents be creative enough to entertain the kids without just plopping them in front of the tube? Could husbands and wives remember how to have a good conversation that lasted more than a minute? Could young people spend quality time with their family instead of always having to be on the go? Could it happen?
I have to think that some people just couldn't do it. They'd be restless and whiny and depressed. How sad is that? How sad that so many people have lost the ability to relax and just enjoy life. I hate winter and I hate having to deal with the byproduct of the season, but yesterday was an awesome day. I had breakfast with my wife for the first time in a long time. We sat around and talked for a long time. When we finally got out of the driveway, we leisurely strolled through the grocery store with no time pressures. (I know, against my question, big picture please!) We enjoyed not having to be anywhere or do anything. I spent an entire 24 hours with my wife for the first time in years and years. It was great.
The STUFF in life ain't that big a deal, people. Take some time and smell the roses. That thing you had to do will still be there tomorrow. And if not you didn't need it anyway. And if I've never said it before, all of you are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by Sam at 8:21 AM
5 Comments:
I'm envious. I would have loved the day off yesterday. Unfortunately, at my workplace, not being able to get out of the driveway is not an excuse. The boss will find someone already at work with a 4-wheel drive truck and send them to come get you. I'm not sure what happens at the end of the day; unless the person who came to get you is willing to take you home, you'd have to find your own way back.
I once had a job like that too. But sending someone to get me where I work now would be a 2 hour round trip. And I would for sure gaurantee the ride back was included in the package! So for once living so far from work has paid off!
This gets me too. Especially at the holidays. I don't understand how we've gotten to a point where even the small, local grocery store has to be open on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Can the world not live without Wal mart for more than 12 hours out of the entire year? (Isn't that all they close?)
If I were King, the entire country would be shut down from Thanksgiving morning until Monday morning. And from Christmas Eve until New Year's. Mandatory quality time. Okay, so maybe I'm going a little overboard, but still.
Yeah that was a good time yesterday. My knuckles and shoulder is a little sore from all of the hacking away at ice but other than that i had a great day too, I wish that we could have more like it!
I actually had a boss, yes my boss, come and get from Columbiana (to Salem) when my locks were frozen. There was no way I was getting off that easy.
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