The Present That Is Today

It’s a giddy feeling when the day stretches out, ready for anything. What I mean is that we aren’t doing school lessons today, since the boys are on a field trip with their dad. It’s just the girls and I and our whole empty day! I vacillated between cramming it full of projects or sitting in a chair and reading for hours while the girls watch nature documentaries and snibble absolute mountains of papers with their clever little hands.

First things first, the lunches got packed, a very unfamiliar sensation for home-schooled kids and their mothers. It was a celebration! They mixed up grape juice for their thermoses. They put food coloring in their plain yogurt. They lovingly thought out and executed sandwiches. After the guys left I thought of the laundry and hustled a few loads in and out of appliance doors. In the eyes of the pioneer woman, I am already hopelessly idle. Surveying my domain, I realized that I should probably do dishes, since my bigger helpers are gone for the day. Then I started looking around and cleaning the place in my head. I am not falling for it, though. If I scurry around productively, I will not get to open the present that is today.

Coffee, I thought. Make coffee and write for a while. I bought a French press last year because I needed something small and easily stored in a little cupboard corner. Then I figured out how to use it, and in the process I found out I was quite edgy in my coffee making choices. Oh, just standing here, grinding my beans, you know. Why not start making it bullet proof? At this point I am equally happy with cream in my coffee, but there is an extra sharp crease in the day because I just blended it with butter. You may laugh. I just did.

Here is the plan as it stands now. In one hour we will walk out the front door, close it gently on the rubble that is inside, and head over to my Mom’s house because she is back from a month in Florida! Tea. Cookies. Chatting. Just chilling. I have decided on my version of a field trip. Have a great day, everyone. Don’t forget to celebrate something!