It’s the holiday weekend, Labor Day, to be exact, the last holiday of the summer and I have no plans to go anywhere or do anything. I’m hanging out with my husband and our Australian Shepherd dog.

That’s it.

I started off the morning feeling pretty good about the day. I figured yeah, an extra weekend day to relax and do basically nothing but rest and maybe read and watch a little Ozarks on Netflix. Sounds good right? But after I had my mandatory 2 cups of

coffee I felt like I should get dressed and try to be more productive. I went out and power washed the deck. It had grown green over the summer, or maybe the winter. I don’t know for sure  when the green and then additional orange growth appeared. I do know that when it’s wet you can slip and slide yourself all the way off the deck on your butt if you step out of the door too quickly. So the green slime had to go, (even though I think it looks kind of pretty).

So OK, I’m really focused on my task of power washing when I hear the distinct sound of a high school band, mainly the drums, in the distance.

A parade.

And that’s when it hit me.  I’m here washing slime off of my deck and there are people a few streets away enjoying the sights and sounds and obvious fun of a parade.

You know that feeling, right?

People are doing something with other people and it doesn’t include you.

People are doing something fun, like a parade, a party, a dinner, an outing to the zoo, game night at someone’s house, ( I saw that one in a movie) without you.

Well, the feeling of restlessness, and being left out of the holiday festivities took over my whole being.

There is a well known name for this feeling in the 21st  century. I’m sure you’ve heard it: FOMO, the fear of missing out. That’s what I had.

Anybody that knows me even kind of well, knows that I’m really into mindfulness and meditation and they would be saying, “Hey Jacqui, what’s up with that FOMO, you’re supposed to ‘live in the now,’ and all that?”

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, they’re right, I know that, but sometimes you just can’t help comparing what you’re doing to ALL the fun of what EVERYBODY else is doing and you get that feeling of wanting to be included in the fun. Is that so wrong?

Well, no. It isn’t wrong, but I didn’t like how I felt.

So, what did I do? Did I grab my husband off the coach where he was happily reading a new Kindle book, and tell him, get dressed, we’re going to a parade, or an Art in the Park, or anything else I can think of, just to get off the deck with the green stuff growing on it, just to do something that included me in what other people were doing?

I didn’t.

I stopped and gave myself a moment to consider what I really wanted and didn’t want, what I feel grateful for and why. And most importantly, what this day really means to my husband and me.

Like a lot of people, we work pretty hard, with long hours during the week. We also see our kids for dinners really regularly, (and when you have 5 kids, that’s pretty often). We also do fun stuff with friends, occasionally.

I realized that Labor Day doesn’t mean “Go to Parade Day”, or “Party with Friends Day”, it means, “Take it Easy from all the Other Stuff Your Doing the Rest of the Year, and Rest Day”.

So, just like I tell my coaching clients, “Hit the Pause Button”,  I hit my pause button, and thought about where I was and whether I was cool with it.

I was.

I then considered what I had, if anything, to be grateful for, and I realized that yes, I sure do.

I had this amazing opportunity to do what I loved most as a small child during extremely hot Texas summers, to play outside with the water hose.

I could also spend time with the guy I love, who loves me too, talking, reading, discussing our favorite topic, politics.

…and I could sit outside on my newly washed deck at the table under the umbrella with my laptop and write about my lovely, very okay holiday.  😉

(I’m going to make an awesome scallops in garlic butter sauce for dinner for the 2 of us tonight, don’t be jealous.)