Did you realize that in August there will be five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays? Yippie! An extra August weekend for all of us. I love my weekends and the other day I wished every day could be a
Did you realize that in August there will be five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays? Yippie! An extra August weekend for all of us. I love my weekends and the other day I wished every day could be a weekend day. Surprise! Surprise! It was a Monday morning as I dragged myself downstairs to the parking lot where I bumped into my neighbor Jason on the way to my car as I oftentimes do and asked, “How are you?” and he said the same thing he replies with nearly every morning, “Always blessed.” Wow, I thought to myself. Is this guy a saint or just highly evolved?
As I drove to work with the sunlight twinkling golden winks at me, I took a moment to reflect on how lucky I am to have landed on Kauai. Honestly, no matter what I’m doing, every day should feel like a weekend day. Nevertheless, I’d like to spend more time outdoors wiggling my toes in the sand, swinging a golf club, flying a kite at the beach, or jumping waves at Kealia Beach. I’d like to lounge more often with my Kindle and a piña colada at a local hotel pool.
With the extra weekend time in August, I’m thinking I need to commit to doing some of those things I really love to do. Where does my time on the weekends go, anyway? Laundry. Grocery shopping. Watching Turner Classic Movies. The time just flies by and then on Monday morning I always think to myself, “Where did the time go? I need more time.”
Last week, I took time away from my desk to eat my lunch. I stepped into the conference room with my specially prepared pastrami sandwich made with love by my husband Ken. Somehow, he always seems to have just the right touch when it comes to preparing my lunch, in between catching his regular morning television favorite, “Daniel Boone,” on the ME TV channel. He says it’s his favorite because it reminds him of when he used to watch it as a kid. “He was an honest man and their were good life lessons in those episodes,” Ken said in defense of his “healthy” addiction to the outdoorsman and his virtual adventures.
Anyway, I stepped into the conference room that Monday afternoon at noon with my brown bag and found a little one. His name is Xyler. He is the 3-year-old son of one of the advertising representatives for TGI. At first I thought my intended quiet space was definitely going to be the extreme opposite of peace and quiet.
Xyler was waiting for a ride home. His tiny backpack was unzipped on the table and all his primary-colored plastic toys had spilled out onto the table. I thought about retreating to the break room, but it was so hot in there. So I told his mother I didn’t mind sharing the conference room.
There was plenty of space for both of us and all of his tiny dinosaurs, alligators, airplanes and trucks. When I picked up his yellow and blue dump truck and asked him about it, he didn’t have much to say, but he started piling the toys into the backpack, just in case I was thinking about permanently keeping one for myself. I laughed.
If ever there could be a silver lining, there is one in this story about squeezing the most out of life every day, not just the weekends. You see, spending just 30 minutes was a reminder, a reminder that no matter how or where I spend my time, I need to cherish it.
It sounds like a Hallmark card, doesn’t it? But it’s true. Picking up one of Xyler’s plastic toys and playing with him for even a short while, between bites of my sandwich — was a reminder of the joys found in very simple things, if only for a precious few moments out of our work days.
The next time we will have five weekends in August will be in the year 2025. I plan to be around. Xyler will be 14 and won’t remember our lunch date. I just hope he never forgets to continue enjoying the simple joy of playing every day — not just on the weekends.
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Lisa Ann Capozzi is a reporter and columnist for The Garden Island. She can be reached at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com
