A Day of Rest  
By Tim Flanagan

I know this is a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black! Of course, a day of rest means something different for everyone. A day of rest to me is taking the time to do what I enjoy. Like working in the yard, hanging with the boys and catching up on work. I am sure it is like that for many of you. Also, what you are resting from makes a big difference in your day of rest choices. If you are tired from working the farm for days, weeks and months straight. Fatigued to the bone. Maybe your mind is bored and that adds to the weariness. Maybe you stare in to a computer all day, talk and answer calls or maybe you are front line customer service. That can be just as tiring without a doubt. I have been both of those and am currently in long hours of everything in between so to speak. Do you sometimes find that you no longer know how to relax. Sometimes before you realize it you lose the ability to socialize. Work and sleep are not the path to a happy life. Yes, I am talking to myself, just figured you wanted to listen in. 

Being wiser of late, I am trying to recreate myself! That takes reprogramming the most complex computer of all, the human mind. I have mentally made myself stick to a daily planner, as I always have, but now there is something new on my planner. Time set aside for me, and them! Them? Yeah them! My grandsons are really them. Instead of giving them a smile in passing, or 5 minutes in between here and there. I now take a lot of time for them, something I was unable to do when I was a parent of young ones. The planner didn't exist or would not have mattered in the life of single parenthood. Okay I am way off track, thanks for keeping up! So, a day of rest? Make yourself take that day. Whether you go for a drive over to the beach and enjoy an early summers walk on the empty beach, or you go to see a movie. However, a movie is probably a better idea for the physical labor kind of person, and not another screen to stare into for the office worker. After all this is a day of rest and not a week. I can't wait till the boys are old enough to throw around the football! I miss that! Sundays over at my adopted sister Amanda's house. Yard football, goofy pool parties and of course bourbon was always a Sunday well spent!  

So, a day of rest? What is it to you? Sitting on the porch while people drive by, unaware of you? A gentle breeze stirs a page on your book bringing you back to reality. Or maybe a night for sushi with friends. Leaving the planner, the list and the got to dos home! I always found an envy towards fisherman. They can perch on a dock or boat all day, just doing whatever, and if he catches a bite, then that was just the icing. I enjoy reading in the sun like at a pool or beach. I love music and do miss being near the club scene. However, headphones and yard work seem to help bring my mind along on temporary vacation. Performing also gives me a boost for my energy and my social ineptness. I get to be someone else. I get to make people laugh. I get a challenge that does not have survival stamped on it. I miss having a motorcycle, I used to just pop on my bike and away I went with everything left in the wind!  Okay you got me, I have not taken a full day of rest in years, but I am working on it!