Free Time and Fun

My spouse's father and step-mom have been in town for the past week, and it's been delightful.  They've been staying in a condo over at the beach, which is close enough to zip over and meet for a meal.  We've shared food that we've made, and we've gone out to eat.  We've had good conversation.  It's been a delight.

Friday night, my step-mom-in-law asked, "What do y'all do for fun on a Saturday?"

I tried to remember.  It's been awhile since we felt like we had an empty Saturday that we could fill with fun.  We've been in the process of life changes, as we've been in a downsizing project, downsizing our housing expenses if not our space.  We've spent the summer season sorting and packing and moving to a condo we'll be renting for the next 2 years.  We then pivoted to getting the house ready to go on the market, which it now is.  And now, we've been pivoting to the paperwork phase of the project.

But I have hopes that we'll be in a position to have fun soon.  Will I remember what that looks like?  What is more likely is that about the time the house sale closes, my spouse's additional classes will start, and we won't have huge expanses of time to have fun.  

I am recognizing a pattern.  I am also remembering what many a creativity consultant has advised:  don't wait until you have huge swathes of free time before you do your creative work.  You'll be waiting forever.  Similarly, I should probably plan for fun in smaller units.  We are unlikely to have a fully free Saturday any time soon.

When I think of what would be fun, I think of pumpkin patches and apple orchards, which I can't do easily down here.  I need to adjust my thinking to a smaller scale, both in terms of having fun and in terms of creativity.  I've been feeling like I'm not writing poems regularly enough.  I worry that in gaining seminary, I'm losing poetry.

Let me remember an idea I had for a poem:  Noah's wife sells the house.  I've been using the Bible story of Noah to explore modern ideas of climate change.

And let me remember that I don't need a huge chunk of time to write a poem.  Let me do that more often.