A 'good' Friday indeed

Right off the bat, it felt like we were wagging school or taking a sickie. We awoke to the alarm, cooked an omelette to use up the orange capsicum, and watched Transformers to pass the time. At 12:30, for want of something better to do, we headed out to see if Superstore was open. It was, after all, Easter, and thanks to a lack of planning on our part and some silly self-inflicted rule of no sweets or junk food or coffee from Monday to Friday, there was no chocolate to be found anywhere in the house. This necessitated a hunt, but the odds were slim, given the date on the calendar. A quick look around the neighbourhood and we were out of luck on the chocolate front. So after hitting the bank, so to speak, we took a window seat at Starbucks, where we sipped and munched and read our way through the next two hours. At that point, we headed home to other projects and plans. That venture on its own was not too remarkable, but it's what we saw when we were out that pleasantly surprised us. You see, other than our coffee stop, the stores and streets were mostly people free. It was peaceful and quiet, and reminded me of my youth. Those "more frequently than now" days when all shops were closed on weeknights (except for Thursday night), weekends (except for Saturday mornings) and public holidays (no exceptions). Which meant that people were home with their family and friends, catching up on the day's activities, the week's worries, and enjoying more time together. I get that some of us need access to shops all day and every day, but I liked it much better when we didn't. When you could enjoy a stress-free wander along deserted streets, imagining and planning what you'd buy when the shops were open again. When we planned ahead. When we didn't have to shop, just because we could. So for us, it was a 'good' Friday indeed. And as luck would have it, we had another moment that gave us an opportunity to enjoy time together without the usual distractions. That Sunday night, the power went off at exactly 6:43 pm, and stayed off for two hours. We stayed sat on the sofa, and talked and read. It was wonderful. Of course, we have a choice to not shop and to not watch just because. Problem is we don't exercise that choice often enough. But after this 'good' Friday and Easter Sunday, we might choose to do exactly that on a regular basis!