Take off your watch, put down the phone

HEAL

My husband and I went to my sister-in-law’s house today for a Memorial Day weekend get-together.

Their house is our usual extended family go-to, because of its pool, grilling setup, and my sister-in-law’s and brother-in-law’s unfailing hospitality.

The pandemic put a damper on all of our usual holiday weekend get-togethers. Although we have seen each other and even gotten together in the past two-plus years, today was the first true summertime, perfect weather, cold slushy drinks, great food on the grill and cool water in the pool kind of day.

Once I finally got set up on a lounge chair, I tried to take one typical “by-the-pool, drink in hand” picture. I would share it here, but it didn’t turn out well. It didn’t take long for me to decide my phone needed to be inside where it wouldn’t overheat. When I took it inside, I took my Fitbit (which functions as my watch) too.

And over the next several hours, I didn’t compulsively check my messages and took no pictures. I just enjoyed the fresh air, time with my family, some drinks and snacks, knowing that this weekend is a time for relaxation but also deep reverence for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Even though the pool and all of that time was a delight, the best period of time was the stretch of minutes I spent holding my newest great-nephew, who I just met today and who is four months old. He’s simply perfect, as all new babies are. Squishy, smiley, utterly innocent.

There’s so much healing needed in our world, in our country, in our individual lives right now. I’m not sure if holding an infant healed something specific, but it certainly reminded me that some of life’s sweetest, most restorative moments aren’t measured by a watch or camera.

**Note: I forgot to turn my timer on. Maybe it took three minutes to write this; maybe it took seven. I’ll never know!**

Welcome to this week’s Five Minute Friday. Our instructions, via coordinator Kate Motaung: “Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.” (But I can’t resist spell checking, as you can imagine.)

Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.