Taking time*

My husband asked if I wanted some time alone after he got home from work. Dinner was already in the oven, so I went straight to my writing desk.

Instead of writing or working, I decided to relax by listening to a podcast while doing a crossword. Then I read a bit of The Rule of St. Benedict and commonplaced a small section.

That’s it.

Old me would’ve been frantically hammering away on my laptop, trying to squeeze out every second of time.

Me now? I delighted in hearing my husband playing the piano with the kids and savored a slow pace. The smell of chicken baking with tomatoes, artichokes, and goat cheese wafted from the kitchen. These very physical experiences of pen scratching, paper turning, piano hearing, dinner smelling, grounded me.

And sometimes I need that time to get very real tasks done on my laptop. It was just so nice tonight to not have to.

*posted later