Free Time

We're just finishing up the week off. Every November, the schools in our town close for a whole week. Many schools in New Jersey close up for this week. It's like a bonus vacation -- better than Christmas or Spring break because there is no major holiday attached, so no major holiday pressure or commitments.

We spent part of the week traveling, a bit of the seek straightening up the house, and most of the week "recreating" in one way or another.

I spend quite a bit of time thinking about the meaning of life. What is it all about? What makes life meaningful? Is it living in the daily, mundane tasks, with serenity? Is it excitement and fun, with travel and partying? Should I spend more time working or cleaning? Should Frank and I make more of an effort to be social? We seem to become less and less social with every year that goes by. Also, as the kids are getting older, I worry both that I spend too much time and energy on the kids and that I don't spend enough time and energy on the kids.

Sometimes I feel left out, out of the loop, like life is passing me by.

Sometimes I think about the harsh and brutal lives of primitive cultures -- like cavemen -- and I wonder, has the meaning of life changed over time? How amazing is it that our lives are made so much simpler and easier and longer by all of the things that technology and education has brought us? And how can I complain about my life?

I ran a few errands yesterday. I had to pick up bread and pick up the dry cleaning.

In the quickie mart, I said Hello to the three guys who are ALWAYS there. They are there at 6AM and they are there at 11 PM. They are there every single day of the week, and have been ever since they bought the store.

Then, at the dry cleaners, I said hello to the same lovely ladies who have been helping me for as long as I can remember. They sit at their sewing machines, working on alterations, and listening to a Christian radio station talk about God. They have been sitting there everytime I have walked in for at least the last 20 years.

I wonder if they have time to worry about the meaning of life? Or maybe they have already found it.