the price of freedom

there are few things i like more than free time. one of the most marked differences between children/teens and adults is their use and appreciation of free time. being a non-parent, the debate continues to surface in my family as to who wants/needs/craves free time more - the mother or the career woman whose day is all about deadlines and unanswered e-mail. a much different type of chaos surrounds a mother, catching their small children as they run by to throw a piece of clothing on them or brush their hair, or later catching those same children as they run out the door to the mall with their friends to make sure they have money in their pocket or the appropriaqte clothing. i get it, i really do. but i can counter with 15-hour workdays spent in front of a computer screen not wanting to stop even for lunch.

for me, free time is not only something to be savored but also something to be spent wisely. this morning i opted for sitting in the sun watching the dogs be dogs. laptops can extend the creative process outside of the house or office. inspiration while in a beach or lawn chair just seems to feel better than at a desk. me surounded by a white picket fence and green grass works quite differently than me in a desk chair under florescent lights. ideas seem to come more easily. for that matter so does a nap. it continues to baffle me how a teenager can walk by a lemon tree filled with blossoms or sit in a cool breeze on a summer day without even noticing the simple joy found in both. funny, a child notices their surroundings, can be fascinated by a leaf or an ant hill, a teenager more often than not is oblivious to the beauty around them, unless it's a fashionable purse in a store window or the latest gaming graphics. after a long period of running around, be it after children or to your next meeting, it's time to start noticing simple things again. the sound of birds chirping or the smell of fresh cut grass, a butterfly on a colorful flower or the perfect wave rolling up onto the sand, more often than not these brings me back to a memory of the last time those things meant something. the last time days stretched endless and sitting on the curb was a pastime. the days before desks and bosses, deadlines and power point presentations. sure school was challenging, but mostly felt like a social life with work thrown in vs. office life with hard work with a bit of social life thrown in. if you're lucky to work somewhere that you'd even want to get to know those around you that is.

and so, the debate rages on. except i'm always stopped dead mid-argument when a mother of small children says "well, at least you can go to the bathroom alone". gotta give 'em that, shuts me up every time.