Mañana

After 35 years with the company I came home, took off my hat, hung up my coat and set my worn out shoes and sense of urgency over against the wall.  I tossed my responsibilities, title and imagined importance in the cabinet next to the box of trash can liners that hung over the washer and dryer.  I was now officially retired.  I wasn’t Sir, or Mr.; now I was simply Bill. 

 

            I took the two pens from my shirt pocket and started to toss them into the kitchen junk drawer but as I slid the drawer open I noticed the scratch pad.  It was one of those pre-printed pads that read, Things to Do Today.  Under those words were nothing but lines; places to fill in all of the chores and activities that need to be done.

 

            I kept one of the pens in my hand and pulled the pad from the drawer.  As I sunk down into my favorite chair I tried to remember all of the little things around the house that I wanted to change or fix.  I slowly looked around and as I saw something I jotted it down, like the sliding glass door, I’ve always wanted to take that out and put in French doors.  I wrote it down. 

 

            The sink in the wet bar that has always dripped a little, I wrote that down.  Then there’s that small crack in the plaster.  I wrote down – fix cracked plaster.  Over there, against the wall I spotted the sense of urgency that I carried around for all those years.

 

            I set the pad and pen down on the table next to my chair and I closed my eyes.

 

            This was going to take some getting used to.