What To Do On a Sunday
by Angel Smits
Last Sunday my fellow Super Romance author Claire McEwen posed a
question on her Facebook page. Now, I
didn’t answer or post because, well, I didn’t see it until Tuesday, and the
comment was about what you do on a Sunday.
If I’d seen it on Sunday, I’d have
commented—really—but I didn’t. But it
got me to thinking. What I do on
Sunday’s is actually a very big deal.
I work a 9-5 day job as the admin
assistant to the plant manager for a large manufacturing plant. It’s a busy job, definitely hectic some
days. So when I get to the weekend,
hectic and busy is not what I’m looking for.
But, working a 9-5 day job also means there are several tasks that have
to be done around the house, whether I like it or not.
So Sunday’s are the days where I
sleep in a little. The rest of my family
can apparently sleep in a lot because I’m usually up way before they are. I throw on my robe, walk out to the driveway
and retrieve the newspaper, and put on a pot of coffee. This is the quietest time of my week. I relish every single minute of it.
Ready the newspaper is an
old-fashioned habit, but a particularly important one for me. I read nearly every story, every editorial
and sometimes the advertising inserts, too.
Depending on when the rest of my family gets up. Reading a newspaper is relaxing. I don’t have to worry about the battery
dying. There’s no ads that stop my
screen from scrolling down to the next section—I simply turn my eyes or the
page. Yeah, some of the stories are
things that I saw online a couple days ago, but frequently this is the entire
story, not just the headline, or the grabber paragraph.
I get story ideas from newspaper
articles. Those grainy newspaper photos
are often the best jumping off place for a tale I want to tell. So I sit back and enjoy every single
minute--heavily laced with my coffee.
Eventually, though I do have to
emerge from that cocoon. And often the
bridge back to reality is the coupon inserts.
I love coupons. I’ve saved a lot
of money over the years clipping and saving them. It’s also become a ritual with my daughter
and I. We get out the scissors and clip
away, a lot like cut and paste back in school.
She and I get ideas of what we plan to make for all of us to eat in the
week ahead, and get reminded of things we haven’t had in awhile.
In the afternoon, we venture off to
the grocery store. It’s really the only
day I can do it so I’ve resigned myself to it.
And my daughter loves to go. She
started going with me when she was little.
At an early age she learned how to add to the shopping cart. At least now, she asks. At two, she just tossed it in and this harried
mother never had a clue—not until I was home unpacking bags. Some interesting things ended up on our menu
that way.
 |
| Do we look like intrepid shoppers? |
Over time, grocery shopping became a
mother daughter activity. Sometimes it
was the only time we had, just the two of us.
We’ve found that a lot of topics can be fit into the hour plus it takes
us to buy a week’s worth of groceries.
And while it’s not private, no one’s really listening to us—and if they
are, who cares. We don’t know them, and
they don’t know us.
There’s been a lot of sharing going
on as we walk those aisles. I can ask
her in produce if something’s bothering her.
And by dairy, she’s filled me in and we’ve hashed out a few
solutions. In canned goods, she might
say, “You know mom, I was wondering…”
And as we stroll down the baking aisle and debate which desert to get,
we’ve come up with some answers, maybe even some viable solutions.
We never consciously decided to make
the grocery store our connecting ground, it just happened over time. And I’m glad it did. Every parent should have a special time and
place with each of their children. A
place where that child feels like they are the only person in that parent’s
life. A place where the relationship is
one on one and you can get to know the
individual. And they can get to know you
as a person as well.
Is there a special place or event
you have in your life where you connect with someone special? I’d love to hear stories, if you’re willing
to share. And if you don’t have
one? Feel free to think about making
one. It’s definitely worth the
effort.
