“What is your favorite way to spend a lazy day?”
When I think of lazy days I think of summers when I was in elementary school, when we would sit on the couch all day long and watch re-runs of Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie, and various other shows that were more repetitive than anything else. But it wasn’t really about the shows. It was about not having to do homework, about having absolutely nowhere to go and nothing to do. Outside the heat was blazing, but inside it was pleasantly cool, so we lazed about all day. In fact, I think we took it for granted.
So now when I think back on it I remember those shows — and sometimes even individual episodes — as an integral part of being truly lazy. There was no ticking clock, no ogres screaming for us to “hurry up,” only Father Time himself eventually getting us as we moved out of those lazy summers by nature of growing older. The relaxing, endless days turned into scripted episodes where we went to summer camp, got summer jobs, cultivated internships, and took enrichment classes. Before we knew it those lazy days we had taken for granted were gone for good.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some lazy times that crop up every once in a while, even though I’m an adult with a wife and kids. It’s just extremely rare that those moments link together enough to encompass whole days like they did when I was young. Sometimes when I get those moments I go back and watch some of those shows I watched as a kid. I relive those moments spent on the couch with my sister just completely relaxed, without a care in the world past what we were going to eat for lunch. Those times now are few and far between, but I’ve learned to savor them, to make them last as long as I can in my mind, even if they are fleeting.
Even now sometimes the theme songs from those shows come unbidden to my mind, and I just have to smile. And sing along.
Sam
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