Today is my birthday, and I took the day off for it. I walked with the birds and crickets this morning and listened to cattle low. I copied favorite or new-to-me words from The Weight of Ink into the purple notebook I fill with words I like: simper, fettle, apostate. I sat with one leg crossed over the other, sipped my tea, and completed the crossword.

But not correctly.

A few weeks ago, we spent a long weekend at the beach: our college kids, my husband, and me. One afternoon we were stuck in the house while it poured out. Our son subscribes to the NYT games, and I asked if he still did the crossword, and he showed me his game history, where his participation dropped off as soon as classes ended, and he said, I should start them again. He told us how hard the Saturday crossword is.

It was Saturday, and naturally, I wanted to experience just how hard the Saturday puzzle is. He airplayed his phone screen to the TV and I about died of delight. We did the crossword together as a family, shouting words at the TV as he advanced through the squares and typed what we said. Before he put it up, he said we’d never get it, the Saturday ones are too hard. With all four of us contributing, we completed it in 12 minutes.

He asked why I don’t subscribe. I said I don’t have time for the crossword. I can do Wordle, and Connections — those are the time commitment I can make. But on vacation, he and our daughter introduced me to the Mini, which I added to my morning ritual while we were at the beach, and then kept it when we got home.

Last week, the NYT started charging for the Mini. Conveniently, they were also running a 75% off special for an annual subscription to all the games via the games app.

Guess who has now made time for the crossword?

I’m in a coffee shop with a foamy cappuccino. In my purse is a notebook. In my backpack are my laptop and The Great Gatsby, which I’m rereading. All are with me because I wasn’t sure if I’d want to journal, read, or blog. It’s like being on sabbatical again!

Also with me is my phone, the completed crossword puzzle on it, with a note from NYT saying “Close, but not quite.” What I truly want to do is figure out my crossword error(s). I’ve looked at it over and over again. To distract myself and maybe shake something loose, I opted to blog. I was feeling the itch.