Over my lifetime, I’ve thought about *errands in several different ways. When I received my driver’s license in high school, I would volunteer to take the Dodge station wagon out for the simplest family tasks. As I matured into adulthood, the amount and complexity of necessary errands—encapsulated in TO DO Lists—shaded my feelings in a different way: I had to squeeze these chores into the in-between moments that might be available in the day’s calendar. Errands were necessary, but if there too many of them, they could also be irksome. Errands took precious time away from other, larger responsibilities.
Nowadays, I’m returning to my adolescent view about small, purposed jaunts beyond these four walls. There are times when completing errands becomes the high point of my day. I aggregate them into a circuitous set of tasks, their locations sequenced for maximum fuel and time efficiency.
I really like doing errands. I find great satisfaction in driving around town, getting things done. There are times when a short task-journey turns into a happiness trip—as I notice gratefully all that’s wonderful about living around here, among these wonderful people.
Living the luxury of a retired guy’s calendar, I can spend a little more time at each task, focusing more carefully so that it’s completed well. I can engage clerks and sales associates in brief, appreciative conversations. I can set aside imagined big-picture urgencies, seeing in slow-errands the richness of my life right now. As I journey through the list of errands, I can find reasons for prayer, content for meditation and sources for gratitude.
At this time in life, doing errands describes some of my lifework. Each errand run becomes another chance to add grace to necessary household-maintenance tasks. I can find errand joy in being an errand boy….
*From Old Frisian, Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German roots, this term (something like ærende) denoted a message or news—and sometimes the person who carried or announced it. Old English folks added the fascinating twist that an ærendgast was an angel and an ærendraca was an ambassador. The idea of a short, simple task didn’t emerge until the 1640’s.
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