Folklife Friday: Loafin'

I don't know where the word loafin' comes from, but it is used a lot around my house. My parents labeled someone who wouldn't work a loafer, so it was a negative word then. They would admonish us to quit our loafin' and get the work done.

But now, I love loafin'.

Loafin' is spending the day doing whatever you want to, with no promises to keep and no clear direction of where the day will end. For many years, I had to spend my Saturdays doing laundry and cooking and shopping, 'cause it is just not right to go loafin' and have to think about all the things waiting for you to do at home. One of the gifts of getting older is that your children have to do their own cooking and laundry, freeing up time for loafin'.

Last Saturday, my lil' ole sister and I went loafin'. We started knowing we would probably end up in Tupelo, but we didn't care when. I was driving, so anytime I saw something I wanted to get a closer look at, I just stopped the car and did it. We spent most of our time on the Natchez Trace Parkway, which has great beauty and little traffic, and you don't have to drive ninety to keep from getting run over.

Sometimes, we took an unfamiliar road, but that was okay because we had plenty of gas and plenty of daylight.

We attended a fall festival......

Saw Elvis in overalls......

Where he was born........

and the Assembly of God church where he learned to love the Lord and music.

Then we ate lots of pizza.

And we talked and bonded and just enjoyed the time we had together.

It was a beautiful day for loafin'.

You really should try it sometimes.

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