I loafed

I found a secret for loafing. I spent almost the entire weekend loafing: in a hotel room. Our son had a soccer tournament this weekend in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and thanks to the spread of his games on Saturday, we had hours and hours of down time.

His first game was at 8am on Saturday, so we arrived in the early morning for warmups, walked the dewy fields as the sun rose over the trees, and were finished with the game by 9am. We returned to our room for the few hours until our next game, and since we weren’t home, where there are endless chores that need to be done, our down time was truly down time. For loafing.

I lay in our bed and petted my husband’s head while I read and the kids watched cartoons on TV. For hours. We did the same thing in the afternoon after our son’s second game. We killed most of the day in our room, laying around in the white sheets of hotel beds, doing a whole lot of nothing.

It was bliss.

Now I’m sitting on a window seat in our hotel room, a version of the bay window I have day dreamed about since I was a kid. I’m sitting in a window seat, and I’m writing. The remainder of the soccer tournament has been cancelled due to rain, which is a huge bummer. But I’m sitting in a window with a cup of coffee and a book on the sill next to me, watching wind blow treetops, and grey rain fall, and cars splash puddles in the streets below. I’ve got a pen and notebook in my lap, inking words on a page, with my whole family cuddling and lounging in leisure, and with no work to do. It’s kind of awesome.

Since we won’t get to play or watch soccer today, we’re salving the wound by going out to breakfast. A real breakfast — not the stale bagels and muffins the hotel offers in the lobby. Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out. I love the clatter of breakfast dishes in a restaurant. I love the liveliness of morning, with the whole day stretched before us, and I love endless coffee and savory breakfast foods. And my favorite part, now that we have kids, is that on the menu, there’s always something for everyone.