I'm Doing Nothing

The weekend had arrived and I'd just gotten out of bed. My still sleepy self was making it's way to the kitchen for a huge cup of wake-the-hell-up-tea, when I saw Steven sitting on the couch finishing the morning paper.

“Morning!” he said getting up to hand me the newspaper and give me a quick kiss on the cheek. I could see he'd been up for a while because he was already showered and dressed.

“Morning.” I grumbled rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“How'd you sleep?” he asked.

Now in our house this can be a trick question. If I said “Great,” I might hear that I'd been tossing and turning all night, coughing, snoring, whatever it is that I do that can wake him up and that's why he's been up for so long. But if I shrugged my shoulders and gave a “Eh, I could use a little more.” I might have him looking at his watch wondering exactly how much sleep I really needed.

I decided to go with, “Great.” as I went into the kitchen to make my tea. “How about you?”

“Good.” he said leaning against the counter watching me fill my cup with water, drop a tea bag into it and place it in the microwave. “I had to get up early today to get some paperwork done, but I think I'm all caught up now.” he explained.

He watched me as I pushed the the start button on the microwave and I smiled as my cup slowly rotated inside. “That's great!” I said sounding like I was excited that the paperwork went well when really I was just excited that I was that much closer to holding a hot cup of tea.

“I'm going to be heading out in a minute for a few appointments.” he said. “What are you up to today?”

Now, I know it's an innocent question. It's one I might ask him any other day, but today I really couldn't stop wondering why I wasn’t' going to be honest with him and say, “Absolute nothing. Not a single thing except maybe read a book or stare into space. Heck, I might not even get out of my pajamas!” but instead ,when you're looking at someone who's already accomplished so much before you even got out of bed well... it's hard to be honest.

So instead I lied. “I've got loads and loads of laundry to do, I need to go grocery shopping, I want to get some of my own paperwork done and if I'm lucky maybe even tackle cleaning out the linen closet.” I smiled at him but inside I was screaming, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! COULD YOU HAVE MADE YOUR LIST ANY LONGER?”

We smiled at one another as he picked up his briefcase and gave me another quick kiss on the cheek. “Okay, have an easy day.” he said as he headed for the front door.

“You too.” I said then quickly added, “What time do you think you'll be home?” I tried to make it sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Probably around three.” he said. “What do you want to do for dinner?”

“Well, with everything I want to get done today maybe we'll order out.” I suggested.

“Sounds great!” He grabbed his keys and was out the door.

By then my tea was ready. I took my cup and the newspaper and headed for the back porch. I thought of the list I'd given him. Everyone had enough clothes for the day, we were ordering out for dinner, so grocery shopping could be pushed back and no one would know if I did my paperwork or not. So really the only thing I had to accomplish today was get dressed before three o'clock.

I smiled as I settled into the favorite rocking chair, took a sip of tea and opened the newspaper.