Some thoughts:

I love Sundays. I almost never have Sundays off and I am really relishing this one. Sundays in cities feel so comfortably communal to me. You can go to the park, brunch, a cafe, a bookstore, and just feel the sigh everyone is breathing on their day of rest. Saturdays are for errands, going out, running around to parties or various energetic activities. Sundays are slow. Sundays are for savoring. Sundays to myself are new to me, and the novelty is nowhere near wearing off. Especially since most Sundays I work, as previously mentioned (it's about the only constant to my unpredictable work schedule).

Growing up, Sundays were religiously centered. You woke up, took the curlers out of your hair, put on your sunday best, and spent three hours sitting in church. For many, this is an enjoyable, enriching experience. I don't think I ever particularly enjoyed it. I read a book through Sacrament Meeting for as long as I could get away with it. Which was through high school. It was always something of a relief to get home, don the pajamas, and eat our big sunday dinner. And our Sundays were definitely never communal in the larger sense-- Mormons don't spend money or go out on their holy day. We didn't even go spend time with non-Mormon friends. Sleepovers that stretched into Sunday? Not allowed. I had to leave the night before. The communal Sunday experience is limited to the Mormon community only.

My first warm, fuzzy, communal Sunday feeling was when I visited Philadelphia during a business trip in March or April of last year. I had a Sunday afternoon to spend strolling around Philly before work started the next day. I took a half hour to relax in some historical park square as the sun was starting to set. Families were out, owners walking their dogs, books were being read. It was one of those first warm weekends of the Spring that brings all city mice out of hibernation. It was a bunch of people just enjoying their TIME. Cities, especially New York City, naturally introduce a frenetic pace to your life. You have ambitions, you need to hustle to climb up to them. So when you feel this collective sigh being drawn in and released, it's so pleasant to be a part of it. And just enjoy for a day. Before diving in again. That was my first Sunday out in the world, outside of a Mormon community (A.K.A. Provo, Mormon mecca), and outside of Pittsford, where I lived for a year after college with the fam, and where I was trying to not unduly ruffle emotional and moral feathers with prominent departure from Mormon lifestyle.

I am all about BRUNCH. What is more divine than a relaxed, glowing, happy, lazy, delicious brunch with people you enjoy? Invite me to brunch, I will say yes every time. Even the very word is delicious to say. My favorite day to eat out is Sunday.

And on the South America front, what more can I say than 37 DAYS?!?! We are excited and scared. Sarah's almost done shopping, though I've still got to buckle down to some important shopping tasks. Why are stylish but not girly, practical, multi-purpose, not-denim pants so difficult to find? If I'm going to be wearing these pants every day for 6 months, I damn well better love them.

Cheers, Laura