Pt 1 - Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus...

... Or even a lot farther away than that. And sometimes that’s okay by me.

As we speak my wife is running a 4-hour errand for her mother because she wouldn’t take my advice.

The brakes squeak on my mother-in-law’s Buick, but they don’t need to bother or pay a mechanic to fix the problem because the answer is to drive the car more than once every 18 days to a nearby mall for a sack of navel oranges.

But would my wife listen?

No. Her mom is 87 and wants things just so, which includes finding a cure for squeaky brakes that doesn’t involve driving it around once in awhile. Plus, my wife likes getting her out of the apartment, taking her to lunch, chatting about what they might do on Thursday, etc.

And that’s fine.

Because while they run errands I enjoy what I like to call... free time.

I believe there are several things we should all enjoy on a regular basis, all worth the effort to maintain as fully as possible.

The short list: Clean air, good friends, a clear conscience, freedom of movement, and free time, to name but a very few.

And what does a retired teacher/freelance writer do these days with free time?

I’m so glad you asked.

***

We should write ‘the long list’ if it hasn’t already been done. I bet it would clear the mind to know what’s really important.

What would be on it?

.