Free Time

I remember a time in what feels like the distant past when I had a good amount of free time. I took leisurely lunches and chatted in the kitchen with coworkers; I stayed in good contact with my friends. I spent mornings either exercising or roaming the neighborhood with my camera. I played trivia in the evenings or went out to dinner or worked on a present for my nephew's quickly-approaching first birthday. I've always reveled in unstructured time and found enjoyable ways to fill it.

Lately I haven't had much free time. A large part of this is by choice. I signed up for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, committing to multiple-hour training walks every weekend day between June and October. I've followed my normal annual policy of scheduling multiple different birthday celebrations with different groups of friends in an admittedly narcissistic tribute to myself. I happily accepted a friend's produce delivery while he's out of town, which means I'm cooking more than normal. These are all good things! And then there's work.

Now I have a big chunk of free time approaching, and I'm a little anxious about the adjustment. How easily can I go from 100 mph to 5 mph for over a week? Will I revel in it? Will I get bored? Will I have deep thoughts? Will I start blogging regularly?

T-4 days and counting.