Favorite time

My favorite time of the day is about 4:30 in the afternoon. Not that I don't like the mornings or evenings, but the late afternoon is what I look forward to every day.

I love the late afternoon sun. I like the way it comes into my living room windows and warms me when I sit on the couch with my laptop or watching TV. I love the time to put my feet up after a long day and relax a little before my nighttime meetings. And I enjoy the fact that my husband is home from work and we can chill out together, catching up on our days with our feet up.

All this is amusing to me because it's the opposite of the way things used to be. Late afternoon was my craziest, most stressful part of the day. When the four kids at home, I was working on dinner, while trying to get each of them to get their work done, from homework to practicing instruments to their laundry, there were different things for each to handle and I had to be on top of them all. By the time my husband walked in the door I was exhausted and already thinking about bed.

I still think about bed every afternoon, but it has more to do with old age than a crazy schedule. And now, if I really want to, I can simply drift off for a few minutes to get my second wind. Oh, how times have changed!