RANDOM THOUGHT SUNDAY TO START THE DAY RIGHT MONDAY

First, things First.  I’m so glad our weeks only have 7 days and that it all ends on Sunday -- our God given day of rest.  He sure knew what he was doing when he commanded us to seize the day, have fun with the family, take the boat to a lake, read a book on the porch swing, break bread with your tribe and simply  give that smelly pile of laundry the ol’ stink-eye and keep on walking.  Unfortunately, I need to practice what I blog as I’m the worst violator and even as I type the washer is spinning and the dryer is fluffing on this early Sunday morning-- and I’m sure I’m not alone.  So it begs me to wonder, how did we all get it so wrong?  I think it all started the day the TV never turned off.

Yes, I’m going to sound like the proverbial “I walked miles in the snow to get to school” clique, but I must admit that back when I was growing up,  we seemed less stressed, more relaxed, happier and looked forward to Sundays when everything revolved around the family pot roast dinner at 6.    The only thing to worry about was whether one of the Catholics zooming through our neighborhood after mass -- each and every hour on the GONG, GONG, GONG like a steady stream of hungry ants -- would take  me or one of my brothers out while we were playing kickball in the street.  

Our Sunday attire was simple.  Just jeans and a Steeler jersey, with only the differentiation being a number or name depending on the season and a terrible towel permanently attached to your heart and hand.  At game time we congregated all together in our typical small, post war home family room huddled around a 20” TV screen cheering on the best of the best throughout the 1970’s.   After the game, we ate dinner together, cleaned up, maybe did some homework or lied and said we had none,  watched a couple shows and at 11 the news came on.  And then? 

At 11:30 sharp, an announcer would come on and say something like, “and this ends our broadcast for the day” and would continue on to say something inspirational.  When he finished, the Star-Spangled Banner would play while we watched all sorts of patriotic flag images of the dawn’s early light and then with a switch there was nothing.  Nothing but those rainbow stripes and that awful static.  The station went to sleep—and so did we.

It was as though the TV knew something that we knew back then.  It was OK to end the day, take a break from all of life and just rest.  And then one day it just happened.  The TV stayed up all night and never turned off.   Since that day it’s a continuous blast of information, re-runs, infomercials, and it never pauses. 

JUST.LIKE.US. 

So how about we try something new today and all go old-school.  Turn our internal TV off or at least push the pause button.  Go for a bike ride or walk, take in all that summer has to offer, spend time with your family, help or encourage someone who needs it, but whatever you do,  don’t miss out on today!

And maybe, just maybe, our Monday will start out little better tomorrow.