I took a spontaneous day off work today (Thursday).  I heard a weather report yesterday that made me long to be outdoors rather than at my desk and computer, and I seized the opportunity.

The list of things I intended to do today, on my day “off”,  included:

• weigh in and post on this blog
• weed
• plant hollyhocks by the garage
• spread mulch
• put up a rose trellis so the climbing rose has something to climb
• laundry
• begin sorting out my craft room
• finish a bead project that currently resides on my dining room table (because I can’t wade through the craft room, see previous item).

What I actually accomplished is this:

• sat outside in the sun, with iced coffee and a writer’s magazine
• talked on the phone with my friend Sue, who is in the hospital enduring the grueling first days after knee replacement surgery
• ate lunch from a roadside grill at Nelson’s Meats with my friend Molly
• bought some great pens
• sat outside in the shade, at Coffeesmith’s, sipping iced tea and pretending to write but actually daydreaming and rereading journal entries from last October
• took iced coffees to my friend Sara’s house and held Ellie, the sweetest little baby Sara cares for
• worked out for 20 minutes
• daydreamed in a dark room while wrapped up like a human-sized burrito (a far-infrared body wrap, truly lovely)

Forget the arguments about baseball or football being the great American pastime. The truth is, Productivity seems to be both our work and leisure-time activity of choice. Our To-Do Lists runneth over.  Occasionally, though, we have to stop do-do-do-ing and try just being.

Today was a day for being.  For seeing the beauty of the trees, for smelling the freshness of spring in the air, for turning a face to the warm sun and feeling gratitude for the here and now.  I know that my to-do list will be there tomorrow, waiting for tick-marks of completion.  But today was an ephemeral treasure, good for only one brief, perfect moment.  Was I productive today? Perhaps. Did I accomplish everything I needed to? Check.