It wasn’t what I had planned for my day.
To be honest, I didn’t have much actually planned for my weekend, I rarely do, but it was the first of October so ideally I would have gotten a latte, picked up a pumpkin…participated in a cancer walk.
That’s right…today was the annual, Light the Night walk for the Leukemia society. I was supposed to go, but as sick as I have been, my husband decided it would be best if I sat this one out.
The festivities for Light the Night started at five, and it was almost a two hour drive from home, so my husband had to leave at three. That didn’t give us much time to do anything together. So with the only tangible plans suddenly deleted from my imaginary schedule, the only alternative was to write while drinking latte’s and maybe pick up that pumpkin.
That’s when my computer did that thing again. Remember? When it crashed and died and we rescusitated it back to life? It didn’t come back this time. No amount of CPU CPR was working. My husband promised to take it to his office (the computer equivilent to an emergency room) and work on it before the cancer walk.
So there I was…staring at the four walls in my living room like I’d never seen them before…and truly I don’t know if I’d ever noticed them fully. There was no glare from a computer screen to distract me.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I watch television? I tried, but there is amazingly little to watch even with as many channels as we get. I decided I would do something I haven’t done in a while. I would clean the house…and not just the surface stuff I normally do.
I didn’t push anything under the furniture.
I pulled out a mop and a broom and I cleaned the floors in the laundry room. Then I pulled out that scary stepladder and changed the dark bulb above the washing machine so I could read the nearly invisible words inside the soap dispenser.
I’ve always wondered what the second spot was for…now I know. (Bleach, if you were wondering.)
I scooped up all the dirty clothes in my bathroom and washed every one…several loads worth. Then I folded and put away all the clean laundry. I swept the floors. Did the dishes. Played with the dogs in the yard.
I took myself out to lunch.
I did everything I imagine people with no computers do on a daily basis. It was fun. And I managed to squeeze in a few Twitter updates using my phone. I wasn’t really totally unplugged. I lurked. But it wasn’t the same. I won’t say I hated it. That would be lying. But I won’t say I’m up for two days in a row. I bounded to the front door when I heard my husband’s key hit the lock. I knew my laptop was in his bag…maybe not totally fixed, but it will have to do. For now.
As for me…I’m planning a late night of writing, tweeting, and chatting with my favorite writers online. After all…I deserve it. I was good all day.
Until the next time…I’ll be finishing the next episode of Tales of the Daywalkers.