This summer has been the summer of hanging out with Pedro and his girlfriend, which has been delightful. I am grateful for this time with him, especially after he was away for two years in treatment.
Which means I need to find something to do. I have a job, but I need to find a social life and fun activities.
"Maybe you can join a club," said my friend Clara. "What do you like to do?"
Great advice. I thought of things things I like to do:
- Crossword puzzles
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Sewing quilts
- Embroidery
- Reading
- Learning about meditation
- Paddle boarding
- Learning Spanish on an app on my phone
- Blogging
Great. Based on these hobbies, I am a homebody hermit.
Egads. I'd like to blame my list of loner activities on the isolation of the pandemic but can I? No. I liked a lot of these things before the lockdowns. I had a jigsaw puzzle stash that I had been accumulating for years before 2020. How did I end up with all of these activities I could do from my living room? A lot of these fit around motherhood. I could write a blog post or work on a quilt while my kids were doing homework. I could read while waiting for them to finish sports practice. These things kept me both occupied and present for my kids. A jigsaw puzzle on the coffee table would bring us together without needing to talk. My homebody hobbies were part of the nest I created for my kids.
I will never give up my homebody hobbies. They will always be a part of me. Nevertheless, I too will need to leave the nest, even if it was the nest I built. As my kids venture out, I need to as well. I feel like I am starting kindergarten, leaving the house and seeing what is in the world. What do I like? What is fun? Who will be my friends? I'll have to find out. We'll see what Lauren 2.0 brings.
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