May 25, 2013: Quiet and Content

Can you hear the quiet of my house?

It's Memorial Day weekend. Typically one full of graduation parties, cookouts, drinks with friends on the patio. Not this year. And I am good with that. Actually, I'm great with that.

Instead of trips to the store, packing cars, and preparing dishes; I'm quietly enjoying the comfort of my home with an empty calendar. The biggest item of concern to me is the weather report and timing of my long bike ride.

My kids have grown self-sufficient to a great extent with driver's licenses and their own social calendars. And I don't feel the need to respond to the question from friends "are you doing anything this weekend?" with an obligation to add something to my currently empty Outlook calendar.

I am content in my quiet house with sound chirping birds through my opened window and the thought of a bike ride. I have some reading and work to catch up on and look forward to uninterrupted time to call my parents. Oh, and I have a steak to grill later with possibly hot tub to follow, pending rain. Boring? Maybe.

Is this what they mean by time passages? I used to look at my parents and wonder how they went from school board meetings, kids activities, and card clubs to a quiet existence. They didn't crave that busy lifestyle anymore. I thought they were missing out. That I wasn't like them; I was wired differently. I was wrong.

Life comes in stages. Have I become my parents? Although happy to claim that attribute, I would say that with age I have learned the meaning of the famous John Lennon quote "life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." Planning hours in your week for your own happiness is much more fulfilling than filling your days with what others want you to do. Simple is better.

Quiet and content is the caption of this pix...following my cat to the kitchen