Shannon Day

Today was Shannon Day. It should be declared.

Actually it's Indigenous Peoples Day. I work for archaeologists. Archaeologists do not celebrate Columbus Day. There are a myriad of good reasons for this. And in addition to anything else the man did, as a geographer I can't really support a navigator who steps off a boat in South America, looks around, and thinks, "Huh. India."

The point of this little side trip is that today I had the day off. And my family did not.

I don't want you to think that I don't like spending a day off with my family. Had they been free of obligations, that would have been a fine day as well. But a day stretching forward before you with little but your own clock run it on is a grand thing in the life of mom. And I was intent on using it to its potential.

I was up with the family and took Luke to kindergarden. From there, Target, Michaels, the post office, the print shop, the gas station, and the library. I mention my to-do list only because I got all of this done by 9:45 a.m. Because I'm awesome.

Then, I took myself out to breakfast. It was grey and raining when I walked into a little main street café. The café was warm and noisy with people. I had an egg, potatoes, sausage, and a pancake the size of my head, all cooked for me by someone else and served on plates I didn't have to wash. I read a paperback which I have no business reading* all the way through breakfast, which wasn't rude because there was no one sitting across from me to mind. And I sat there until I finished my coffee, which was still warm at the very bottom.

Will wonders never cease?

I went home and did the laundry. And while I folded, I watched Aliens, and I watched it loud.

Game over, man. Game over.

I did some prep for the Luke's birthday. And I was actually home to pick my kid up from school, rather than paying someone to do this for me. I talked to his teacher in person instead of email, and the kid and I went to the school book fair together. Luke walked away with a book that had the words "Lego", "Star Wars", and "Stickers" all on the front cover (all of which he can read quite easily and from a great distance).

We came home through the persistent drizzle and cuddled up on the couch together with a Disney movie, popcorn, and hot chocolate.

Then my awesome husband came home from work in time for me to catch an evening ballet class.

Now it's late. Mount Laundry, that had been part of the living room topography for several weeks now, has been leveled. The cat amenities have been freshened, the Crow is well on its way to meeting a deadline, and I'm pleasantly tired and heading off to bed where I'll turn a few more pages of the book I have no business reading.

Life is good.

*The book I have no business reading is 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King, which scared the crap out of me the first time I read it. I picked it up off the bookshelf yesterday on a whim. Reading it before bed I reminded myself that I should not read this book. When I woke up in the middle of the night too scared to get up to use the bathroom I reminded myself again that I should return this book to the shelf. Before I left the house in the morning I had already turned another few pages and it's on my bedside table now.