Smile-breaks
Passing the time
Staying home. All that time on our hands. What to do? I took the trash bins out. Yay. That's a minute and thirty seconds passed. Now what? A little TV. Or not. It's all about COVID-19 and I've heard a whole lot more of that than I ever wanted to know. Except it's here and I'm in it—no, I don't have it—so I'd best keep up on what's the latest. Then take a walk around the backyard to clear my mind. That would take up a couple more minutes—unless I stop to pull a few weeds or water the potted plants on the patio. Then it would take up a half hour or so.
What now? What to do? Time for Paul's lunch. Sure glad I have someone in the house with me. Christy will be home from work later this afternoon. Good to have a full house. Paul's engrossed in his drawings and his iPad, watching all his favorite videos of KISS and JAWS and Mary Poppins. Every now and then he looks up, "Can I have some iced tea?" or "When can we go cruising?" reminding me there are a few things I can do. We try to go cruising around playing CDs or Sirius music if not every day, at least every other day.
I make a few phone calls. It's good to call a friend or someone in the family to see how they're doing. At least I know they'll be home and we can have a scintillating conversation: "Hi! How're you doing?" "We're fine. How about you?" "We're good, thanks." Silence. "So what've you been doing?" "Not much. What're you doing?" "Not much. Oh! I did the laundry last night." Like I said, scintillating. Right?
Last week I was able to go to a meeting. Not physically—everyone signed onto Zoom, an Internet meeting place. That was interesting, a nice break to see other people's faces and hear what the Welcome Ministry is doing. That took up an hour out of the last 336 hours. Fourteen days totals 336 hours—if I have the fourteen days right. I've kind of lost track. It's probably been more. Feels like it anyway. I won't even say how many hours to go. We don't know.
So. . . I can unload the dishwasher. That'll take some time. Maybe five minutes if I stretch it out. I'll take my Kindle outside and read for a while until my eyes get tired. Another hour or so covered.
Take the dog out. Nice to be outside on a mild, sunny day. Give him some water. Sit back down in front of the TV. Nothing on but COVID-19. Pick up the Kindle. Need a more fascinating book. This one's good but not what they call a page-turner. The last one I read was a page-turner, but I finished it too fast and then I was—left with time on my hands.
You all are probably better at this than I am. Nancy's making an afghan; her sister Jan is making spaghetti sauce. I should cook more. I baked potatoes tonight. Does that count? Didn't think so.
Paul's itching to go cruising and we need a few groceries and yes, I need to pray more. Heaven knows, the world needs it and there's plenty to pray for. I miss my Bible Study group—and my Book Club and our Widows to Go coffees and I miss hugging and chatting with Elizabeth when she comes to clean and I miss taking Paul to his swim instruction at the Y and I miss seeing all of my family.
Time passes. Time will pass and one day this thing will be over. I will be so glad to see you all! Meanwhile, stay safe and try to find something to pass the time.
