“I believe you are your work. Don’t trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That’s a rotten bargain.” — Rita Mae Brown

Last night at the hair salon while spending my hard earned dollars on overpriced services (partial weave and cut = $165 + tip), I had a couple of hours to peruse the stack of magazines. There was a new one called, Weekend and as the name suggests, it’s all about why we work to live.

I could ramble on about work and meaning as I’ve done in the past. However, since the weekend is just around the corner, perhaps I should stay on topic and share my one key take away as I flipped through the pages. I was moving quickly because there also was a recent copy of New York magazine that I wanted to get to before being banished to the dryers. As a sidebar: that issue had a great article about Rosie O’Donnell: she’s blogging these days in case you hadn’t heard. Her rant on Star Jones is worth reading.

Anyway, back to thoughts about Friday post-cocktail hour and Kathleen Renda’s ideas for: The No-Chores Weekend. I won’t steal her thunder, but my favorite was What We Can Learn Playing Fetch (under the subtitle: The Zen of Doing Nothing).

I’m one of the few lesbians around that doesn’t like dogs: we’re cat people in this household. But I certainly can appreciate the Zen of this activity.

“Dogs are the ultimate in-the-moment creatures. Throw ’em a ball, and they’re blissfully content to run and retrieve and run and retrieve until your arm falls off”or they happen upon a darting squirrel or some pungent garbage. Here, the secrets to appreciating the simpler things, like playing fetch, courtesy of the most enthusiastic connoisseurs on four furry legs.

1. Repetition doesn’t have to equal monotony. Whether it’s the first or the 50th, every opportunity to play has its own particular thrills.

2. One ball in the air at a time is just plenty. Any more is juggling.

3. Accuracy is overrated. As long as the trajectory doesn’t take you into traffic, who’s complaining?

4. It’s OK to go off on a tangent. Even with sidetracking and sniffing out other opportunities, you’ll get there”eventually.

5. Any patch of green is great. You don’t have to go far to go far.”

So this weekend, take the challenge and live without the hustle of your workweek. It pays in more ways than one.