So it’s summertime around here, by most measures. The kids are out of school, and a lot of our daily schedules are changing. Normally, I’m driving my oldest boy to the gym on Mondays and Wednesdays for his team practice, which means I’m at the gym on these two nights as well, from about 5:30pm to 8:30pm.

But we are in Championship season now, so the kids are training on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead, from 4:30pm until 8:30pm. A minor change, I know, but just enough to throw us all out of sync.

My two regular climbing partners were available to meet me at the gym tonight, which was fortunate, but both of them were tied up until after 5:30. That left me with about an hour on my hands. I ran through my options:

• I could drive back to my house, pick up all of those books that need to go to the used book store, and trade them in; or
• I could find some quiet corner in the gym and spend that hour catching up on email, and maybe even make that reservation for “The Pods” delivery; or
• I could head over to the Cuban restaurant around the corner, get a cafe con leche and an empanada, and read my book.

Guess which one I chose.

There’s lots that needs to be done, and trust me–we are doing it. And yes, when I got home tonight, I packed up a few more boxes (of books, what else?) and cleared off another bookshelf….

But at that particular moment, rather than rushing off on an errand, or trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of productivity out of the day, the best way I could think of to really be in the moment was to take a moment.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should have titled today’s entry brake.