Once upon a time, I lived on another planet. On that world, I had responsibilities that I fulfilled cheerfully and with boundless energy, and I was well rewarded. I also had friends with whose company I enjoyed. More amazingly, they liked spending time with me. I feel almost like the same person I was there, on that other planet, but I really don’t have much in common with whoever that was.

It’s been a long time since I visited that planet. It’s been a while since I even thought about it, but it came back to me today, as I reconnected with an old friend from that time of my life. He moved out of the area several years ago, and we’ve mostly been just missing each other on line these days. It was good to hear from him. His life has never been better than it is now. (Mine isn’t too bad, either, but I have so many happy memories of the old days.)

As we chatted for an hour or so this afternoon, I forgot about all the work I’d planned to get done today. This was maybe one of the best reasons to take Saturday off that I’ve had in a long time. Of course, I always have an excuse, and if I don’t I make one up. Today it seemed a quick visit to a favorite old planet was one of the better reasons not to work.