A few weekends ago I was nearing my day off and had it all planned out with a to-do list a mile long.  I have 1 day per week that is free to use as a catch-up day – clean the house, do yard work, do a little extra cooking or meal prep for the week, fold laundry, etc. A niece was staying with me that weekend and I figured if she wanted, she could help out – otherwise, she could amuse herself doing whatever she wanted. I had told her to bring her bike, as the weather was going to be nice for playing outside.

As the week progressed, I started thinking about life and priorities and how tomorrow is never guaranteed. I also have a long list of things I have thought would be nice to do, or visit, or taste, or make, and somehow all the little things in life that demand your attention creep in and take their place. There was a new coffee shop that had opened in the nearby city that I had planned to visit “someday”. There was a new bookstore in my town that I planned to visit “someday”. There were parts of the city that I had always meant to get around to exploring “someday”. There were some books I wanted to borrow from the library and read “someday”.   We’ve all heard the analogy of the bucket with the rocks, pebbles and sand, and making sure we take time for the important things in life first, but even though we know that, it can still be difficult to put into practice. “Someday” never comes unless we make it happen.

I decided the approaching Saturday would be my first “someday”, and better yet, my niece would be there to enjoy it with me. After a leisurely breakfast, we played tourist in the city we’ve both lived near our entire lives, but never explored much of.  We enjoyed a cappuccino and a latté in a narrow but very fascinating coffee shop of a little alley and chatted about the interior design and the age of the building. We walked through the brisk morning air and stumbled across an old church built in 1783 by the Loyalists who moved here after the American Revolution.

We continued our exploring and, while walking by an art gallery that caught both our eyes, we decided to pop in. We spent several minutes pouring over the interesting pieces they had on display, thinking about what we liked most about each artist’s style. We continued on through parks and squares, streets and markets, all filled to the brim with interesting sights to see and remark on.  We entered the main library of the old city and looked through their genealogy records, and browsed through their movies to pick one to watch later. On the way home we stopped at the new bookstore I’ve been meaning to go to since it opened. Armed with our memories of the day, we settled in to watch our movie that evening with an home-made after-dinner treat. Cleaning and yard work and folding laundry can wait for another day, my “someday” list cannot.