News

Jun 17, 2023

Possumhaw: All in a day

After our chores and household duties were done, we were given permission to

After our chores and household duties were done, we were given permission to read…our elders positioned reading as a privilege…granted only to hard workers. – Mildred Armstrong Kalish, retired English professor University of Iowa

It won't be a chore; it will be a garden. – Jeannie Mobley, American author, archaeologist, professor

Since I’m officially retired, I get asked fairly often what I do now. Somedays I wonder that myself. What am I doing? Every minute of the day seems to require some "doing." Last Friday night before bedtime I decided to floss my teeth. It's not something I do all the time but I knew my dentist would be pleased so I flossed. As I was flossing a tooth flew right out of my mouth landing on the bathroom counter. It was my new permanent crown, nothing was broken. It looked perfect so I picked it up and put it in a plastic baggie. Naturally it would happen on the weekend but even so it was no big deal. On Monday they worked me in with a 7:30 morning appointment. Sam overheard the conversation and laughed. I am not a morning person. I start my day with two cups of coffee before I ever leave the bedroom so I can wake up, dress, and have breakfast by 10 a.m.

Friends used to encourage me to get up and get going to have all my errands done by noon. I tried it once but nothing was open. After my 30-minute dentist visit I went to the post office. They open at 8:30 so I dropped my letter in the drop box; then I pulled up to the bank drive in only to see "closed" on all bays. I drove across town to another branch and they were closed too. A car was parked in one drive through and the other drive through was empty. I decided to follow the leader and pulled into the open drive through. It would open in 15 minutes. I rolled the window down and checked my phone messages. At 8:30 I made a quick transaction.

From the bank I drove to a grocery store. There was no waiting at the gas pumps so I pulled right in, gassed up, and moved to the parking lot. It was looking good because it wasn't crowded at all and I zipped right through the aisles with my loaded cart and 40 pounds of birdseed. When I arrived at the checkout, there were no checkers. Only the self-checkout was open. I found an employee and said, "Gosh, I hate to just leave all this." She was nice enough to locate a checker. I’m not good at the self-checkout with a full cart load of groceries at least she’d be checking and bagging. I’d already picked up every item off the shelf, then into the cart, on to the conveyor belt, back into the cart. Next into the car, out of the car, into the house and into cupboards, only to be taken out again when needed.

At home I stopped at the mailbox. The mail had not run yet, and I had already made all those appointments and errands. Groceries were put away, the birdseed rested in the wheelbarrow to be moved later. Then three loads of laundry, ironing, watering greenhouse plants, feeding birds, cat, goldfish, fertilizing flowerbeds, shrubs, and plan and prepare the night's supper, clean up kitchen, get ready for bed, grab a book, say goodnight. All that and more in a single day.

Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].

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