Ode to "White Space"

An acquaintance of mine recently sent me an email and mentioned that she had some "White Space" on her calendar. 

What she was referring to was a FREE day with no appointments or errands to do. No meetings, no visiting new clients and no job interviews.

No picking up children, no meetings with teachers. No religious affairs and no talks with preachers. No weeding or yard work, no housework or repairs, nothing to paint and no vacuuming stairs.

No car to wash, no gas to get, no dog to walk or bring to the vet. The trash is out and the cat is asleep. No barbecue to clean, no promises to keep.

No snow to shovel, no leaves to rake, no eggs to color and no Halloween costumes to make.  No tree to decorate, no candles to light, no bulbs to change so you can see in the night.

No gifts to buy, no parties to throw. No laundry to do and nothing to sew. No pool to clean and nothing to sweep. No clutter to sort through and no one to beep.

No computer to fix and nothing to reboot. You could just do nothing and not give a hoot. 

No packages to mail, no letters to write, no email to read and that's alright.

No texting, no tweeting, no phone calls to make. No projects to do and no cakes to bake.

No Facebook postings and no Google time, no watching CSI just to solve a crime.

No bills to pay, no banking to do, no ATM, just a day just for you.

No trips to CVS, no doctors visits too, you are not even sick, so what do you do?

A Free Free day.

Nothing preplanned, prearranged, mandatory or set in stone. Nothing booked or Skyped, you can be alone! 

No commitments, or dates, no places to be. What an idea, can this really be the key?

What a concept, White Space.

Would you even know what to DO with so much time? Am I doing it now with my rhyme? 

A whole 24 hours of nothingness to spend, as you choose to do it all, until the white space ends.

You've really got nothing to lose if you do! It's all in the plan, to do something new.

Or what about a WHITE SPACE WEEK? OH MY MY!! You'd just freak!  But it would be sublime to have all that time.

You want to be careful not to waste it, especially if it hardly comes around.

So do you choose to work on a hobby?  Or go for a walk just see what you found? 

Do you spend time with family to release some guilt? Or try some carpentry and see what can be built?

Do you fight for a cause and give that a try? Or spend it with friends, and see how that flies? 

You could "get back to nature" or read a book. You could call your Mom or even cook.

Why not sit in the sun and count clouds in the blue. Or take a course and see if that's for you. 

Or "smell the roses" and see if you "wake up." Maybe what you need is a little shake up.

If music is what makes you tick, then why not listen to that and take your pick?

You could ride a bike or run a race, would that put a smile on your face? Or keep the pace?

Do you try something new or do something old? The point is, to be bold.

Use the White Space in a way made just for you and make it important, now that's your clue.

You know it will fly as the clock ticks by and soon you'll have no more white space to try. 

What is your perfect "White Space" day?
 
Copyright 2012 Paula Antolini. Note: Paula Antolini is an Independent Photographer, Journalist and Graphic Designer. Website: picturesbypaula.com. She also contributes stories and photos to Patch and has a Patch Blog: http://bethel.patch.com/users/paula-antolini/blog_posts