The Art of Doing Nothing

There is an art to doing nothing because you are most probably doing something rather than doing nothing.  I cannot imagine doing absolutely nothing, rather, my doing nothing implies I am doing no work. So right now I am doing nothing. I am sitting in a beautiful hotel room in a chair with an ottoman.  I have floor to ceiling windows behind me looking out over the Byward Market.  (If you do not think Ottawa is glamorous, maybe you do now!) So while I am doing nothing, I am still doing something, just only things I want to do.

I took my niece on her first plane ride yesterday.  She was so excited and nervous at the same time.  She wanted a window seat and liked the idea of being able to watch Dr. Phil, as there was an episode she wanted to watch that day, on her own personal TV. In the airport we ran up and down on the moving sidewalks, went in some stores, talked about airports and airplanes and security checks.  I tried my best to let her be as independent as possible in this experience.  As the plane began to move out of the terminal she began to get nervous.  I assured we were just "driving" at that moment and when the plane goes up, "the nose will tilt up so we kind of lean back and it may be a bit shaky, but it's like a bus ride in the air".  She said okay.  I wanted her to be informed of what was going on.  I told her that the wheels going up or down sometime make noise as well.  We popped our gum into our mouth as the plane taxied on the runway.  She closed the window because she did not want to be afraid when we were taking off.  We closed the window of the seat in front of us too.  We even had an extra seat beside us and when I tried to move over before we took off she looked like she would kill me.  So I stayed in the middle seat, close to her.  As the plane went up she grabbed my arm, so I held her hand as we took off.  She was smiling and excited, but she didn't know what to expect.  After a little while of ascending, (thankfully without turbulence) she opened her window and looked down.  She watched the world get smaller and the cars disappear as we flew out of Pearson.  She was giddy with excitement and slowly she retracted her hand and sat a little more comfortably in her chair.  She was on a plane. 

I, on the other hand, was not able to assume my take off and landing positions that looks like I am praying when we took off and landed because I didn't want to scare my niece into thinking something was wrong. Haha. I, for some reason, always assume this position.  As we descended into YOW airport we hit a few patches of some turbulence and I acted as if it was nothing, I didn't flinch, I just turned to her and let her know that this sometimes happens on descent.  Oddly enough, it didn't even phase her.  She watched the whole way onto the ground.  As soon as that announcement came that we could use our cell phones I dialed my sister's number and passed Tay the phone.  I knew my sister would be worried until we actually touched down and landed in Ottawa. 

We got here and ordered room service!

Yesterday was a big day for my sister and my niece...and well...for me.  And now we are getting dressed to go get pedi's and go shopping.  As I sit in this chair and do nothing, I smile.  It is going to be a great weekend.