Leaping Lizards! An Extra 24-Hours? What’s a Girl to Do?

Woohoo! The gift of an extra day? There is no better present, as far as I’m concerned.

Julius Caesar GraphicThank you Leap Year! Or more accurately, thank you, Julius Caesar. I know your brilliant idea of adding an extra day to the calendar every four years had absolutely nothing to do with my foot-long To Do List, but whatever the case, I’ll take it, and send you a heart-felt high-five and “Hail Caesar.”

What do I plan to do with my extra twenty-four hours? Brace yourself, this chick is on a mission–a mission to max out her day.

You might be envisioning an Academy Award-Winning Tasmanian Devil impersonation where I tear through my house, cleaning out the refrigerator or the fish tank, paying bills, doing laundry, trying to write my next chapter, organize the launch of our ebook, and bust out 30 miles on my bike–all before I pick my daughter up from school. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

Nope.

Not. Even. Close.

I plan to pack my extra twenty-four hours with nothing but slothful bliss. I am officially jumping off the To Do List bandwagon today and taking a day to refuel.

Aahhh, I feel lighter already just typing those words.

As a mom, a wife, a writer, and a person who occasionally wears a few too many hats, I find myself perpetually racing the clock, trying to get stuff done, and admittedly feeling frustrated when I’m interrupted or when I don’t get it done in the amount of time I think it should take.

Can anybody else relate to this or is this just my genetic defect?

Okay, maybe don’t answer that.

Whatever the case, in the process of continually trying to tackle my To Do List, my effervescent personality…well, let’s just say…may not be as effervescent as it could or should be.

What? I know, impossible.

My darling eight-year old would definitely say, “POSSIBLE,” as would my extremely patient husband. Yep, they’ve put up with my wound-too-tight-ness a bit too long.

Soooo…for the next 24-hours, on this gift of an extra day, I am slowing it down and taking life at a snail’s pace.

What’s ahead for this snail, you ask?

A whole lot of snail-i-ness.

Okay, so maybe snails don’t set their alarms for 5:00 am, but that’s what I plan do again tomorrow because it is an exquisite time of day; a time when silence wraps its savory soul around my creativity. Mother Nature is usually at her best at this hour too. When you have this view out your window, and a colossal cup of rich, dark roast coffee, and two uninterrupted hours of writing time, what more could you want–especially when you’re kicking off a “bonus” day?

View out my window when writing at dawn

After I write, then drop Twinkle Toes off at school, I’ll probably go on a leisurely bike ride; one with no mileage or pace goals–just a fabulous spin, riding wherever I want, for as long (or short) as I want, at whatever speed I want.

After that, if I’m able to steal my husband away from his art project, I’ll take him out for coffee or lunch and ply him with sweet nothings–especially for putting up with me for so long.

Next? Perhaps a beach walk or a pedicure, and chocolate consumption. Yes, definitely some dark chocolate caramel consumption. Then…

Oh no, my snail’s list is suddenly starting to take on the familiar sound of a To Do List.

Clearly, this could take some time.

Happy Leap Day everybody. What are your plans for this extra day?

18 thoughts on “Leaping Lizards! An Extra 24-Hours? What’s a Girl to Do?

  1. I loved your take on Leap Day. I don’t run full steam ahead all the time, but I do feel guilty when I’m not doing something meaningful. Really hard for me to relax.

    I’m trying to live more mindfully, to appreciate the time I have right now. Just spending 10 minutes doing mindful meditation is an achievement for me. Now I just have to spread it to the rest of my high strung life.

    Great post, and I’m glad you enjoyed your extra day! :-)

    • Tina, thanks for stopping by my blog. Being mindful is a good way to approach life. Even though I’m often blazing along at warp speed, I still feel like I fully appreciate what my life is about, and who and what are important. I’ve been told by many people that I should try to meditate, and indeed I have tried, but meditating in the traditional sense is not for me–at least at this time. My meditation usually happens on a long run or a ride. I say whatever works! :-)

  2. I am envious of your plans to do whatever you like on your “found” day! What a great idea. I never knew that we had Caesar to thank for that day. I am teaching that play right now, so I am going to share that info with my kids tomorrow!

    • How fun that you’ll be sharing this tidbit with your kids tomorrow. Yep, I was sending a big high-five to Caesar yesterday as I was reveling in my slothful bliss. Today is another story though; I’m back at it at full speed!

  3. I’m in the witness protection program. ;-) . Seriously, it seems the only way to change my e-mail subscription preference is to unsubscribe/resubscribe. Does this qualify as a technological leap?

  4. I’d gotten myself so caught up in the magic of the ‘leap’, and what it means, that it I neglected to give it this kind of delicious thought. I love that extra hour we get when we turn the clocks back — why wouldn’t I relish an extra 24 hours, especially if I could wake to such a glorious sunrise? Maybe four years from now we’ll have a virtual leap-across-the-miles celebration that will put us in spiritual synchronicity. ;-) Terrific post. Now if I can only figure out why WordPress did not update my subscription e-mail address . . .

    • Deborah, I loved your post, “Measuring Time.” For those of you reading these comments, you should jump over to Deborah’s blog: http://deborahbatterman.com. Talk about a gift of a writer! This chiquita wraps each paragraph up with a beautiful bow before presenting it to her readers.

      I’m going to leave a comment on your blog, Deb, but I have yet to adequately wrap my head around my love/hate relationship with time. For now, I just have to whole-heartedly agree with your last line: “Time is nothing short of what you make of it.”

  5. An delicious, enticing book, Deborah’s Shoes Hair Nails. Highly recommended.

    What am I reading? I’ve just surfaced from another astonishing collection of short stories, The Beggar’s Garden, by Michael Christie, whose characters include a flashy, dashing, clever, generous visitor meant to be the spirit-guide of some junkie’s crack trip; an unloved woman who is hooked on calling the paramedics – though she is not physically ill – just so she can see the paramedic of her dreams again; a balding lonely bachelor who lives vicariously through his dog’s requited love affair; an unhappy banker who counsels a panhandler on how to be more financially successful, to name a few. This book is one hell of a ‘trip’ my friends. Read it if you can.

    And what have I been eating along with my fictional trip into the underbelly of Vancouver’s downtown eastside? Dry stale toast after a weekend in bed with … the stomach flu :(

  6. I should have read this post first thing today, because then I wouldn’t have spent so much time “doing” stuff all morning long! The thing is, we shouldn’t have to wait for February 29 every four years to allow ourselves a day off. What is it with women and our constant attempt to accomplish?
    Wonderful post, Becky. You always get me thinking….

    • Yesterday was so delightful, it reminded me that slowing down to a reasonable pace is something I need to do more often–even if I have to “schedule it.” :-) I’ve always lived my life at full speed with the “burn-it -while-you-can-because-you-never-know-what-will-happen-tomorrow” mentality, but my oh my, sauntering through the day felt divine. I highly recommend it once in a while!

  7. Relate to this, Becky? I am this! :) I appreciate your post and I think you are so smart in taking advantage of your “extra 24 hours.” I didn’t even look at it that way, but what a fun way to interpret Leap Day. Hope you have a great day!

    • Perhaps it’s that we’ve both had careers dependent on deadlines? :-) For nearly twenty years I had to race the clock each day to get our photographs shipped out to magazines by a 5pm Fedex deadline (that was before FTP and email). I can still recall those heart-pounding days, sometimes making it with 15 seconds to spare. There are many other reasons I may have such a love/hate relationship with time, and why I worship it, try to control it, organize it, race it, stop it, ignore it. Mostly, I know deep in my heart that each day is a gift and I never want to waste it so I pack them all full…clearly too full sometimes. Our “extra day” gave me the luxury of remembering some of the best things in life are savored slowly.

  8. That is one way to think of this day – as extra. But extra means that these assigned structures like dates and time, and to do lists are real things. In the bigger scheme of life, they arent real. It is hard to live in the present when I am counting down the list, the time, the month. So today I want to do what I am trying to learn to do on everyday – to live more fully, without restraints of time and purpose, and in the present as much as possible. I imagine you would respond that now I have an extra day to practice.

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