“What are you going to do today?” B asked me, and I answered, “I don’t know. Probably nothing. Read. Wash clothes. That’s about it.”

More and more lately, it’s the answer I can be counted on to give if you ask me what I plan to do on any given Saturday or Sunday. Monday through Friday I can rattle off a long list of things I have to do to make the boss happy, but Saturday and Sunday are mine all mine, and unless I’ve made a date to meet somebody somewhere, there’s usually nothing I want to do more than sit in a chair with a book and a hot cup of coffee. In the evenings, that would be a book and a cold beer.

Unfortunately there are a few basic housekeeping chores I have to do, dammit all, so “wash clothes” or “clean the toilet” will creep into my answer from time to time (see above). As it’s a given that I have to do these things, I include them in my answer only because it feels as though I’m expected to voice these obligations aloud, so that I might avoid being frowned upon by The Gods Of Personal Responsibility. (But not just voice them! By the time I finished typing this sentence, I had already finished washing two loads of dirty clothes! See? I can handle responsibility. I can.)

Aside from my offering to the gods, though, the first half of the day had already satisfied my most heartfelt desires. After the ritual of making the morning java, I settled into our reclining chair with my tablet and read the morning news for two hours, and although I made the mistake of reading the comments of about a dozen shitbags who either don’t understand the attributes that make life worth living and turn people into something better than animals (selflessness, compassion, charity and so on) or don’t care for them (never, never, never read the comments!), that was so eminently satisfying that I laced up my shoes and went for a three-and-a-half mile walk through the golden fallen leaves along the streets of our neighborhood.

By the time I got back, B was curled up on the sofa with the weekend newspaper, a cat sprawled across her lap and an empty coffee mug beside her, so her Sunday was off to a deeply enjoyable start, too.