Recapturing Sundays

Once upon a time, Sundays were a day of rest.  Now, I'm not talking way back when, when folks were more religious and no work--not even cooking--was allowed to be done on Sunday.  No, I'm talking more personally, as in, a time when DH and the kids and I just kind of relaxed after church on Sundays.  Games were played.  Walks were taken.  Books were read.  And, if it were football season, football watched all afternoon.

Then came buying the land at this little place here, and building our house.  Since we did not hire a construction company, but rather built the house with our own hands, the only times we had to work on it were the evenings and weekends when DH wasn't at work. So Sundays were a day of building, not resting.

Even after the house was completed enough to move into, Sundays continued to be work days; project days. I stained the entire staircase to the second floor on a Sunday.  We put down the laminate wood flooring in the dining room on a Sunday.  We split and stacked wood on a Sunday.  Weeded and watered the garden.  Harvested and canned vegetables.  Did a week's worth of baking.  Worked on building the rock wall longer, higher. Built hunting blinds and cut shooting lanes.  Cut up downed and storm damaged trees in the woods.  Built the barn. Stacked hay in the barn.  All on Sundays, because the weekends are when DH is (usually) home and has time.  (Many of his work trips do encompass the weekend, so sometimes he is not home on Sunday and I tend to work doubly hard in his absence instead of rest).

Once in a while, we do take some time off on a Sunday.  Deer hunting, for instance.  It's work, sort of, in that we are out there hoping to harvest some red meat for meals to come.  But it is also restful, sitting in the woods, observing nature for hours on end.  Or boating.  Canoeing/kayaking is physical work, but it is mentally relaxing.  Again with the nature thing.

The past two Sundays, a little work has been done (for instance, cleaning up from the family reunion the day before), but we have also spent more time than usual just sitting and relaxing.  On the front porch.  On the back deck.  On the patio.  Laying in the grass of the front yard.

The Sunday after the family reunion, some big storms rolled through the area in the mid-afternoon.  We started on the front porch, talking, but were driven into the house by the wind-driven rain that came in even under the overhang that makes up the porch roof.  Later, however, we were able to move back outside again.  We also got to see a beautiful double rainbow, both ends of which were visible.

This past Sunday, the weather was much fairer.  In the evening, a hot air balloon was put up in a field just down the road, at one of the dairy farm's parcels.  DH spotted it first, and drew my attention to it.  We watched, from our front porch, as it began to ascend. Then we moved out into the front yard to get a better view while it flew overhead, and finally, past this little place here.

Even after it had gone out of sight, several miles down the road, DH and I continued to lay out in the grass, relaxing.

We need to incorporate more of that into our schedule:  Sunday rests.  Time to just relax, to notice and enjoy the things that briefly pass our way.  Like life in general.