Free Day!

My electricity went out this morning. At the time, I had yet to shower or brush my teeth (and I had raisin bran for breakfast, dangit - that taste does not go away on its own, let me tell you). All the clocks in the house were blinking at me, so I had no idea what time it was and the boys had to catch the bus soon. I had grocery shopping to do later that morning, plus I was combatting a nasty stomach virus.

This was going to be a grand day.

And then I started to think a little more about my situation. It dawned on me that this was like a Free Day! Back in my elementary school days, we used to have Free Day Fridays for gym. Every Friday, you got to pick whatever it was that you wanted to do. If I wanted to zip around on my four-wheeled scooter and run over my own fingers, I could. If I felt the urge to climb the rope, getting rope burns in the process, there was no one stopping me. Life was grand. Nothing was expected of me except to do whatever I wanted, bar walking out the front doors and heading for home. Those days were glorious. And now, here I was, faced with a potential Free Day Friday (except that this was a Wednesday)…

What was I going to do with myself?

When your electricity goes out, you can’t help but acknowledge how dependent you are on it. It’s a scary feeling. Electricity provides our heat, water, light, and so much more. Like most people in our modern world, it allows me to do my job. As a writer, I spend a lot of time on the computer. I blog, I write, I edit, I research. At first, the idea of being cut off from my work was a bit anxiety-provoking. What was I going to do, since cleaning was definitely out of the question. No water, remember? Heh, heh.

Well, I thought to myself, I guess I’ll just have to take the day off. As soon as this thought occurred to me, I started to get excited. A day off! I could actually do something leisurely, something non-work related. I could pick whatever I wanted to do. What a crazy concept!

And so, after pushing the older two out the door, probably quite a bit earlier than was necessary, I sat down and opened up a book. I started reading. It was lovely. Granted, I had my three-year-old sitting next to me the whole time, chatting about cereal and whatever else crossed his little mind. But still, it was 8:30 in the morning and I was sitting down reading. I was partaking in a genuine miracle!

After about ten glorious minutes of freedom, the electricity kicked back on. Putting down my book, I sighed and cursed the electric company’s swift response. Feeling quite morose, I went around and re-set all the clocks, started the dishwasher back up, then went upstairs to take my shower. As I quickly rinsed out the shampoo in my hair (you never know if/when the electricity is going to go back out again), I thought to myself, someday I’ll have my day off. Someday I’ll get a break from the hectic and constant rush of my everyday life. Someday…

Truth be told, we all need a Free Day Friday once in a while, even if it’s only an hour or two. Next time, though, I’m not waiting until the electricity goes out. I’m taking my vacation right…bzzztttt!