Reflections on a Lazy Friday Morning...

Growing up in my family, you were not allowed to be bored.  Ever.  If your eyes began to glaze-over and you seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the house (gravitating ever-closer to the TV in the process), Mom would be sure to appear out of nowhere and innocently ask, "Oh, are you having trouble finding something to do?!"  

My brother and I quickly learned that the answer to this question was always a passionate, "No!!"  The few times we goofed up and told the truth, a dust-rag, windex bottle, or (worst of all!) the vacuum would be handed over to us with a list of jobs that fully occupied a span of time which felt like at least a year.

We quickly devised key life-saving phrases to use whenever caught in the dreaded state of boredom. "I'm just taking a short break from my [mumble, mumble, cough!]" we would call out while suddenly seeming to remember where we were going, and rapidly leaving the room.  Or "I am on my way to [name of some random location on the other side of the house]!" Or -- my favorite -- "I'm just looking for something around the house to help me in my [deep breath to allow precious seconds for thinking].... project of, uh, making, um, uh... golf balls... uh, that are biodegradable, and...uh, uh..."  This last one could go on for quite some time, and it was often hard not to start laughing mid-way through as the story got more wild-sounding by the minute.  But whether Mom knew we were creating excuses on the fly or whether we really pulled the wool over her eyes, the life-saving phrases always worked.

And in the process, they usually did jump-start our grey matter with ideas for something to do.  Many crafts began with, "Um, I was just on my way to find, uh, blue paint for an, um, uh... birdhouse!... I'm making." And a few days later, we'd be finishing up the aforesaid avian dwelling.  For awhile, we even took up manufacturing biodegradable golf balls from mud and straw... until we realized we had over 100 golf balls and absolutely no idea what to do with them!

While it's true that the boredom-is-bad mentality left me with a few workaholic tendencies to tone down as an adult, I'll always be grateful that Mom promoted playing outside, forced me to use my own imagination (although some people would argue I've over-developed it!), and indirectly led me to discover skills such as how to crochet and embroider, how to sketch and paint, how to groom the dog and unclog a sink that's stopped-up with shredded paper (don't ask!)... and even how to make biodegradable golf balls.  

Anyone care to T-off?