Why is it, we wonder, that so many people ask, “Do you have plans for the weekend?” or, “What are you going to do for the rest of the day?” Small talk, I suppose, because it usually happens at an appointment. These people are just being nice; I get that, but I also know they don’t really want to know and wouldn’t remember. I also get that they are folks who have weekends off, or are planning to go hit the golf course when the work day is done. Maybe they are trained to ask that to put patients at ease, or just are uncomfortable with silence.
Not all of us have a weekend. Some people work split shifts; others are on call 24/7. And a lot of us only realize it’s a weekend when we turn on the radio and the program format is different. If you are retired, or don’t have kids in school, weekends are just another day to choose what activity is pressing or which can be put off. I’ve been known to get a bit fluffy when I decide to proceed as normal, only to discover it’s a weekend and the places I need to go are closed.
We don’t live for weekends, other than to be glad we don’t have appointments to go to. We do live by the calendar, and it’s aggravating. The calendar with all the “must do things” is near the kitchen table and every day Bruce eats breakfast while squinting at the calendar to see if we have to be someplace. We rejoice when there’s a string of free days.
There were years when the school ran our lives and we never did get to choose a plan for the day. Then some fools decided that sports needed to happen on weekends too, Sundays even. Thankfully, our kids missed most of that but I remember a grandson saying that, because of tournaments, he never got to have a weekend. People, if you look forward to a weekend, or getting off work, why are you not allowing your kids to catch a breath, a nap, or just hang out?
I worry that we are teaching them that one’s worth is measured by being constantly busy. And is that what we are telling ourselves?
My plans for the rest of this day? Pet that dog. Watch the geese in the meadow. Read a book. Pray for rain.
Meet me here next week and meanwhile do your best not to be so busy. Somebody might like it.