RECHARGING

It was late Saturday morning and my son Alex came into the living room where I was sitting on the couch, still in my pajamas, with my laptop on my lap, scrolling through my phone.

“I thought at breakfast you said you wanted to get some work done today?” he asked.

“I did.” I guiltily put my phone down and brought my attention back to my computer.

“Hey, I’m not telling you what to do.” Alex came over and draped a blanket over my legs.

“I know.” I adjusted the blanket to get my bare feet under it. “Thanks.” I looked back at my computer. “But I really do want to get some work done.” I shook my head as I looked over to him. “It’s just that I’ve been having some pretty busy work weeks lately and by Saturday it’s hard to get myself moving.”

Alex reached over and picked up my phone. “Would it help if I put this somewhere where you can’t get to it?”

“Hey!” I held my hand out and Alex placed my phone in it. “Candy Crush and Solitaire help relax me.” I laughed.

“Candy Crush and Solitaire?” Now he was laughing. “More like Facebook and Twitter.”

“Those too.” I couldn’t argue with him on that.

“So why don’t you just give yourself a break and take the day off?” He pointed to my phone. “Without using that.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise. “Without my phone?”

“Yeah, a day where you can really relax.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I guess I could finish reading that book I started. Or maybe I’ll work on a puzzle.”

“See! Those things are relaxing.” He looked over at my phone. “Every time you’re on your phone you’re looking at some video that makes you mad.”

I sighed. “That’s true. We’re living in some crazy times right now.”

“So get away from it and do something fun.”

“You’re right!” I moved my laptop to the coffee table and got up from the couch. “I’m going to go make myself another cup of tea and get right back under that blanket and finish reading my book!”

As I was walking into the kitchen my husband Steven was coming around the corner. “Hey, it’s getting close to lunchtime. Do you have any ideas on what you’re fixing?”

I looked back at Alex and sighed again. “I guess I’ll start my recharging after I make everyone lunch.”

Steven looked confused. “Recharging?”

Alex looked over at Steven. “Mom was looking for a day to just relax.”

“Oh.” Steven shrugged his shoulders. “We could always order take-out at the diner.” He looked over at Alex. “You want to come with me to pick it up?”

“Sure.” Alex went to get his jacket.

“Thank you so much!” I gave Steven a kiss on the cheek before I went over to get my tea kettle to fill it up at the sink. “This is going to be the best Saturday ever!”