three on thursday {trifecta!}

On Saturday I had the rare chance to spend a quiet day at home.

Completely alone.

Which, in theory, could be — could be! — lovely in copious ways.

But…I often eschew such theoretical things in favor of more practical. I’d end up weeding the garden (or office). Scrape the fourth and final side of the cottage. Or worse, and most likely, address the niggling loose ends of our lives, which will all come undone again anyway! Within the next 48 hours.

While it’s nice to knock a few things off the literal or proverbial list, was it really how I wanted to spend a rare summer Saturday all to myself?

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I wasn’t sure *where* I was going — but I packed up anyway.

Salad, sunscreen, binoculars. Sweater. (Cool, misty morning.) Tablecloth (I bring a quilt or tablecloth, used interchangeably, almost everywhere.) Trail shoes and flip flops. (It’s one of my favorite feelings…getting back to the car, shedding my shoes and socks, slipping my big toe back in my flip flops.)

By then, I knew I’d head to the Bayfront.

Erie’s Presque Isle is one of my dad’s favorite places; we rode bikes there together last summer. Troy and I have been to its beaches with our kids and with company. Explored the lighthouses. Picnicked. And I always say to myself when we’re there… I should come back to these trails alone. To go my own pace. Stop. Go. Stand. Watch. Listen. With no one waiting for me.

When my kids were all little, and all home, all the time, I used to prioritize like this: If there was something I needed or wanted to do in order to take care of myself, which of those things could I do in their company…and which did I need to do alone? (In those days, I’d exercise and shower with them; I took my stab at meditation or reading or writing while they slept — and tried not to fall asleep, myself.)

Now, it’s similar-but-different.

Given a day — even part of a day — what can I do that I really want to do, without the backdrop of Are you ready? Are you done? Can we go now?

Well. Saturday was quite a trifecta.

top photo credit: Wander Erie.

1. A stop at Romolo for some handmade chocolates…including a coconut truffle, a vanilla caramel, and a dark mint patty.

2. On to Presque Isle State Park for a picnic at the marina — then 4 hours on birding trails! (Old Gas Well and Dead Pond.) (Terrible names, but no foot traffic and lots of birds.)

My Merlin app heard 23 different bird songs/calls and, coincidentally, I saw 23 different species. Only 16 overlapped — Merlin heard 7 birds I did not see; I saw 7 quiet birds Merlin couldn’t hear. Of those I could visually ID, 6 were new to me; the Eastern Towhee, my favorite.

3. In want of coffee before hitting the road, I mapped my way to the nearest independent coffee shop — which just so happened to be an independent bookstore, too! (It sits mere yards from Romolo but so far back in a plaza, I never noticed it before.) Pressed Books & Coffee has an outstanding book selection, stimulating atmosphere, good strong coffee, friendly + knowledgeable staff.

I’ll be back!

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Often, when I share I’ve done something solo, I hear, You went…alone? Accompanied by a look of pity.

Alone is not the same as lonely, though. (In fact, the most alone I’ve ever felt was in the company of someone I lived with once. So.) If you’re at all like me, you know it’s nothing against the people you love — in fact, I come back to them with more to give than I had when I left!

What about you? How would you spend a day all to yourself?