Most of our Saturdays are secretly errand days wearing a weekend costume. Target run, laundry, the hardware store because something in the rental is dripping again. But last weekend Dan and I made a rule the night before: no errands, no cleaning projects, nothing with a checklist.
Here's how the day actually went, hour by hour, including the parts that were less than cute.
6:12 a.m. The twins decide it's morning
Theo and June are 26 months old and have never heard of sleeping in. Theo came padding into our room holding his stuffed dog by one ear and announced "Up. Sun up." The sun was not up. It was a gray, marine-layer kind of dawn, which in Oakland in June is basically the default.
Dan made coffee while I did diapers. We ate toast and sliced bananas on the back step, the twins in pajamas, me in Dan's old hoodie. Nobody was in a hurry. That alone felt like a vacation.
8:30 a.m. The farmers market
We loaded the double stroller into the car and drove over to the Saturday farmers market near the lake. Parking was the usual puzzle, but we found a spot two blocks away and walked.
June is at the age where she wants to hold everything. She held a peach, then a bunch of radishes, then attempted to hold a stranger's dog. Theo sat in the stroller with the focus of a food critic and ate the free strawberry samples one by one, very seriously.
What we bought, since I know some of you like the numbers:
- Two baskets of strawberries, $10
- A bag of stone fruit, $8
- Sugar snap peas and a head of lettuce, $7
- A loaf of sourdough, $9 (the splurge)
- Two pupusas eaten on a curb, $8
Forty-two dollars total, and most of it became lunches for the week. The pupusas were gone in about ninety seconds, with June wearing a good portion of hers.
10:15 a.m. A slow loop around Lake Merritt
From the market we walked down to the lake. We didn't do the full loop, which is a little over three miles, because a double stroller with two toddlers who want to get out every four minutes is not a speed situation.
We did maybe a mile. We stopped to watch the geese, who were loud and slightly aggressive, which the twins found hilarious. We stopped at a bench so June could climb on and off it eleven times. We stopped because Theo spotted a man rollerblading in a full sequined jacket and needed a minute to process it.
By the time the clouds burned off, around 11, the water was that flat, glittery blue, and I remembered why we moved to the East Bay in the first place.
12:30 p.m. Home, lunch and the great nap
Both kids fell asleep in the car on the ten-minute drive home, which is the parenting equivalent of finding a twenty in your coat pocket. We transferred them to their cribs. June stayed asleep. Theo woke up, looked at me with deep betrayal, and then, miraculously, lay back down.
That was nap number one, and it was theirs.
1:45 p.m. The second nap was mine
Dan offered to keep the baby monitor on the couch while he watched a game. I lay down "just to rest my eyes" and woke up at 3:05 with a crease from the pillow on my cheek. I can't remember the last time I napped during the day without guilt. I'd like to do it again soon.
4:00 p.m. Backyard and an easy dinner
Our duplex has a small, patchy yard that we share with the neighbors on the other side. The twins played in their water table while I washed strawberries and Dan grilled chicken thighs on our little charcoal grill. Dinner was chicken, the snap peas raw with a bit of salt, a big salad, and the sourdough. June ate only bread. Theo ate only peas. I've stopped fighting it on weekends.
7:15 p.m. Bath, books, bed
Bath was quick. We read the same book about a bear who loses his hat three times in a row. Both were asleep by 7:40, sun-tired in the best way.
Dan and I sat on the back step with the rest of the strawberries and didn't talk about money or work or what needs fixing. We talked about the man in the sequined jacket.
It wasn't a big day. Nothing about it would look impressive in a photo. But I went to bed feeling like I'd actually lived in my own life, instead of managing it. I'd like more Saturdays like that one, errands be damned.
