I was walking Tango this morning and a neighbor–a master of idleness – shouted to me from his lounge chair, “What are you thinking right now?” Darn, he caught me thinking about the things on my “to-do” list (license plates, pick up RX and mail). This was a disappointing answer since the guy is my self-appointed mentor in the art of idleness. He has been retired 17 years and knows how to sit back and enjoy. After a lifetime of super busy-ness, I resist total idleness out of habit.

Thanks to this friend’s nudging, I am learning. Some evenings I sit outside on my lounger and sip a drink. Breathe. Sigh. The brilliant night sky in southern NM lures me to sit longer. Tango is never quite sure about this new routine but he eventually settles in next to me. What about TV? If TV is an idle past time I am making progress. Before, Tuesday was my TV night. Now, I am engaged with at least one show on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. What about reading? If that is idle time then I just moved to the head of the class.

Truthfully, I am not sure I can appreciate idleness. I have so many things I like: sewing, quilting, hiking in the desert during the quiet and cool early morning hours, going to Mexico for lunch, volunteering. Being idle seems like a waste of time, but I guess that is the point, and I am not certain that being idle all the time is a goal for me. I enjoy the busy things I do each day and, compared to my working days (sermons, funerals, weddings, baptisms), I am slothful now. Is it all relative?

Maybe my aversion to idleness is social conditioning:

This kind of stabs at my heart!

and this is a sucker punch

Maybe busy-ness is in the genes–a good excuse for anything. Or maybe, I just enjoy life so much and want to embrace everything while I can. Idleness? This is more to my liking: