Anatomy of A Weekend

NOTE: This post was written before I learned about the shooting of Daunte Wright by a police officer. How trite everything else seems. I recommend history professor, Heather Cox Richardson's commentary in her daily newsletter, Letters From An American

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey (and who isn't?), you probably remember the Dowager Countess of Grantham played by Maggie Smith asking "What's a weekend?"

Thanks to my husband's retirement, my flexible, self-directed writing and spiritual direction schedule, and pandemic limiting activities, weekends have not had much meaning. 

One day tends to feel like another. What I do on Tuesday, I can easily do on Sunday, as well. 

The one exception has been "attending" Sunday morning worship services. On YouTube. For much of our lives, Sunday morning church has been a grounding landmark, and that has been no less true this past year. Sunday gets us to Monday and on Saturday we know what we will be doing, where we will be on Sunday. 

Several months ago, however, we realized we needed a Saturday-- a day that would be different from other days in the week. We needed change, a highlight, a day off from the ways we had settled into life during the pandemic. 

We started roaming. Saturday has been our day to explore Minnesota. Where can we go in one day? We have driven each direction. 

Sometimes we have a specific destination, like Duluth to see the memorial recognizing victims of a lynching there in 1920. 

Sometimes, however, we just pick a direction and go, driving down country roads and through small towns. We have counted eagles, hawks, and most recently, swans, and have marveled at the beauty of the land and the change of the seasons. We have lunch in our car--MacDonalds crispy chicken sandwich is our first choice and later, as we head home, an ice cream cone. 

Lately, we have stopped at antique stores, and if we are lucky add to our latest collection: vintage copper. 

This past Saturday the small town of Darwin, MN was on our route and much to our surprise, it is the home of the largest ball of twine. Now who can resist that? 

And when we pull back into the garage, we feel as if we have been on a trip. We are glad to be home and back to more routine activities, like making banana bread or for Bruce, working in the garden. And church on Sunday morning. 

Then on Monday morning, I am ready to return to my desk. 

An Invitation
Do your weekday activities differ from what you do on the weekend? I would love to know.