HALF A SATURDAY
It was a rare occasion with nowhere to go this morning. A ‘no specific plan in mind’ Saturday. No early waking for my son’s kickboxing class. In fact, his last obligatory class for the off-campus physical education was completed online this past Thursday, directly after school. So, in addition to our getting our Saturday mornings back, we now get back the two hours in the evenings we spent driving and in class.
Whilst my son slept in, I was awake and reading in bed. The best time of the day to read. A new debut book, The Tenant, by a Danish author. Most of the time when I try to read at night, I find my eyes closing and my mind shutting down for the day. Thus, weekend mornings are a sacred time for that reason.
Afterwards, I got ready for a long walk around the high school and then the middle school track. As I briskly walked in the now very warm and late morning, my son took that time to read his new British spy book, Fledgling. It wasn’t until later in the day that I realised the intensity of that 29-degree Celsius sun. Next time, I will not forget the sunscreen, even if it is the morning hours.
Once home, I showered and started preparations for a very late breakfast. By this time, a later lunch. A Dutch baby pancake with lemon zest, lemon juice, and powdered sugar. With strawberries. As well as Nutella for my son. In addition to the orange juice and coffee. Despite all the issues of the past week, life was good. We still have a roof over our heads and lots of food in the pantry and fridge to prepare for our meals.
With our initial meal of the day complete, I set out to organise the pantry but then thought it too grand a task for this late in the day. Instead, I decided to finally spray away the yellow pollen from the balcony before the lady on the ground floor appeared with her loud dog, Baxter. Having figured out that I could connect a hose to the water heater when we moved in almost two years ago, it was now much quicker to wash our balcony.
As the minutes ticked away the late afternoon hours, my son stayed in his room as I stayed in the kitchen. When he finally emerged after having indulged in TikTok videos, he stated he would be taking his bike for a ride. What I did not know until after the sun had already set and he was already safe at home, was that he ventured out much further than before.
‘Could I ride to Target?’, was one of those questions where he knew I would say ‘no’ simply because he would be going alone on a busy street. Yet he did go to Oz and to Target. In addition, he found a geocache across the street from Oz and tried leaving his name with a key imprint as he had no writing devices on him. I’ve not ventured into the world of geocaching but I find it quite interesting that my son went out of his way to find the location.
On a whim, I decided to go get Chipotle for dinner, which we enjoyed on the newly cleaned balcony. As I was driving out of the complex, I noticed my son returning home from his adventures, the beautiful pink colours of tonight’s sunset behind him. After he put his bike in the garage, he came along with me. It was close enough to where if the car stopped, we could still somehow make it home by foot. Hopefully the check engine light issue will be resolved on Monday when the car goes into the shop.
With our breakfast and day having started much later than previous weekends, it felt as if we had half a Saturday. And there is nothing wrong with that. At times we need a lazy Saturday to counterbalance the hectic days of the week before. Sometimes we need to take time for ourselves to slow down and enjoy life a little more.
