easy street

Normally I see clients on Tuesday mornings, but between a natural tending-towards-maternity-leave lightening of the schedule and a couple of people who have recently switched to every other week, I realized as I made lunches this morning that I didn't need to go in to the counseling center. Four delicious, unscheduled hours stretched before me. All to myself!

Under normal circumstances I probably would have easily filled those hours with all the chores and errands and nesting tasks that periodically weigh on me in their un-addressed state: sorting baby hand-me-downs, finishing work odds and ends, cleaning the bathroom, catching up on email, changing the kids' sheets (I do not even know how long the current set has been in use...! I justify it with the thought that the kids tend to bed hop, and with the bunk beds in the rotation, maybe the sheets are half as icky as they might otherwise be...?). But first, after drop off, I used the last visit on my punch card at the Rec Center, baring my belly a bit sheepishly on the elliptical machine.

I got home and turned on the shower, intending to rinse off quickly and Get Down to Business. But then it was so very nice and steamy in there, and I had the realization that there are precious few anxiety-free showers, taken on my own terms, left before the baby arrives. The era of showering at leisure is coming to a close. And suddenly the whole morning and its purpose shifted.

I made a big cup of decaf and situated myself next to a couple of loads of laundry that needed folding, to give the semblance of productivity. Then I streamed the latest episode of Downton Abbey on the PBS website. At 10:30 in the morning! Can you stand it?! Watching that show is like eating cake. Really, really good cake. Even when you're crying (and believe me, I was), it goes down so very pleasantly.

I declined to volunteer to do some work items. I fussed around on my new laptop. I ate half a Trader Joe's dark chocolate bar. You get the idea. It was all extremely non-productive and leisurely, the time flew by, and before I knew it I had to pick up Gabriel. The weather was strangely springlike, warm and sunny, and we spent time outside without coats and then made paper pirate dolls. After we picked up Frances, played at her school in the sunshine with friends, and arrived home, instead of enforcing homework-doing or piano-practicing, I crawled under a blanket on the couch and announced I would be reading Harry Potter now.

It was just one of those days. Between this bowling ball of a baby head wedged into my pelvis, the gorgeous weather, and the anticipation of a vulnerable tiny new person in our family, I'm taking the path of least resistance. The sheets will get changed eventually. Just not today.