Day 2: If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do?
As I ponder the prompt for Day 2 of Blogtember, I am sitting at the kitchen table after a long day at work, made longer, of course, by my inability to leave work on time and my penchant for creating more work for myself. My knees hurt, my head hurts, I am dehydrated, and the only reason the hubs hasn't thrown a pan at my head after the 34th time I have whined, "I am soooo tiiiiiiiired!!!" (besides the fact that he isn't the sort of guy to throw pans at people's heads) is because he is diligently frying up some homemade falafel.
Life, I suppose, could be worse. But right now, as I wearily and dazedly try not to take a nap under the table, it could also be a liiiiiiitle bit sweeter. Just a little bit.
I would love to explore the streets of a city I don't know yet, and I would love to sprawl in the sand of some far-flung beach that hasn't made it into the guidebooks. I would love to slip away from the demands of adult life and spend my weeks sleeping late, sipping cappuccinos in café-lined plazas, and losing myself in the murmurs of foreign tongues. I would love to gaze upward at the sun and at the impossibly beautiful buildings of some new land, absorbing the details that the locals don't see anymore, feeling awestruck at how much this world has to offer.
I would want to snuggle with my cats and dangle ribbons in front of them so that they dance and race around the room. I would want to listen to the birds chirp in the morning and let the grass tickle my ankles as I dig in the garden. I would walk the downtown streets of DC in silence, taking a visit to see Mr. Lincoln and letting my eyes tear up a bit as I pay tribute to freedom and all that is good in this country.
I would have brunches with friends who I don't see enough and watch movies I keep meaning to see. I would call my grandmother more. I would read some really good books. I would read some not-really-great books. I would collect seashells and white stones from my hometown beaches. I would reminisce.
Essentially, I would savor. I would slow down and drink in every moment, doing the things I most enjoy with the people I most love. I know that it's possible to do just that within my current life, and I certainly do it as much as I can... but there's something nice about living without alarm clocks and responsibilities. There's something sweet about escaping into the best parts of my life and lingering there for a while.
