Comfort

Perhaps the most sought after human condition is comfort. All of us long for it. When financial rewards come we don’t admit to riches, we prefer the elegance of the word comfortable. Our possessions are often referred to as creature comforts. In the movies just before things start to heat up someone says, “Let me slip into something more comfortable.” Let me share with you what comfortable means to me.

Today is Saturday. What I am about to describe for you is typical for me on Saturdays. It has always been my most comfortable day. The day started a couple hours ago with my everyday wake-up routine. But now, Pam is in the kitchen while I write this, making our special Saturday morning breakfast. We never eat breakfast together on any other day. Our routines collide awkwardly during the work week. But on Saturdays she makes a proper sit down meal. This past week I sent her a Tik-Tok video of a delicious looking breakfast dish that someone had made. I thought that she might like it too so I forwarded it to her and now she’s in there playing that video over and over, making sure she doesn’t miss a step. 

Its now 8:23 and Lucy hasn’t come downstairs yet. She hasn’t peed since 10:00 last night, hasn’t eaten since 5:00 yesterday afternoon, and yet she still lounges on our bed by herself. Why? Because neither of us has “issued her a proper invitation to come downstairs.” You heard that correctly. She is a lunatic.

After breakfast I will workout. For me this used to entail a trip to American Family Fitness. But my 19 year membership at that institution ended with COVID. Since then my workout has become an improvised routine that takes place in my home with dumbbells and the two staples of DIY fitness—push-ups and sit-ups. Saturday is not a road work day, so there will be no walking, running or biking.

Then around 10:30 or so I will spend two hours putzing around in my yard. There is perhaps no other activity in my life from which I draw more pleasure than taking care of my yard. Its not a huge yard so it doesn’t take forever. The tasks involved vary by the seasons. Sometimes I rake, other times I mow. I gather sticks, remove Lucy’s deposits. I trim the edges of everything. My leaf blower gets a workout. When I’m finished two hours later I will admire my work for a few minutes as I walk the perimeter. This work is the very essence of comfort for me. My real job of 42 years isn’t physical work. Its a job that involves slow moving things like growth. Sometimes it takes years to measure real progress only to have it vaporize in the ill winds of interest rate policy. Not so with my yard. I can see the results of my efforts in the lush, clean lines of the mower. Comforting.

After a shower I might grab an afternoon nap, nothing more comforting than a nice nap. Then at 3:00 our volunteer shift at Hope Thrift starts. Pam will man the cash register while I am collecting donations at the back door. I spend a lot of my 3 hour shift harassing the other volunteers, teasing them about one thing or another. Sometimes I slip across the parking lot to Wendy’s or McDonalds to buy them ice creams or French fries. When I’m feeling extra generous…both. At least once during my shift I will encounter someone at the back door who has been in the process of cleaning out a dead parent’s attic. Their grief is still raw. I mostly just listen. Other times I will see a family of immigrants inside looking for and finding bargains. I smile at them and they smile back. It’s always quite a comforting afternoon at the Thrift.

Afterwards we will go out to dinner with old friends who also have spent the afternoon at Thrift. We will find a nice place to catch up over a meal and a beer. These are the type of friends who you can easily relax with, the very best kinds of friends.

And, that’s it…my Saturday. It will be the most comfortable day of the week. Hope your’s was too.