The Days are Just Packed

My boys are big into Calvin and Hobbes these days, as I’ve been for a long time. One of the anthology collections is called “The Days are Just Packed”, and that’s a great title for today’s post. Of course, I'm not using it ironically; as much as I'd love to sit in a tree all day with a water balloon in hand in the event that Susie doesn't happen to walk under that particular tree, it's just not going to happen. Not today, anyway.

You might be wondering, wait, this image says Day 18; what happened to Day 17? (What do you mean? It's right there, just under Day 18...) Yup, I missed a day of posting (yeah, just one day; Sundays are a planned day without writing). These first two days of spring “break” have been probably busier for me than any spring break in recent memory. These weeks have never been much of a break for me, and especially recently since they always fall somewhere in Lent. But with all that’s going on, they’ve been especially packed days, as all kinds of plans need to change and questions need answering.

I’m not bragging; I’m really not. So many of us answer the question, “how are you?” with “busy”. That’s not necessarily a good thing. So often we can actually use it in a boastful way: “I’m very important; I’ve got a lot of things to do, and a lot of people are making demands on my time.” Sometimes we use it in a resigned way: “I’m so busy,” we say with a sigh, as if we don’t have any control over what we said yes or no to.

One of the things that’s happening under the radar in this covid-19 pandemic is that it’s forcing us to be less busy. Now, there are many people for whom this is truly a tragic thing; it’s meant the loss of a job, loss of income, loss of purpose, loss of productivity. I don’t minimize those things at all. What it’s also done, though, is force us to reckon with the idea of being less busy, and how we struggle with that idea, never mind with the practical realities that being less busy means being concerned about whether we're going to be able to provide for our families.

Maybe it's too early in this situation to get too deep into existential poindering mode. Then again, what kind of Calvin and Hobbes fan would I be if I didn't get into existential poindering mode?

All this is to say, it's almost midnight so I'd better get this posted so I don't miss two days of posting in a row. Because, why not pack more into the days?