I have finally come round to the wisdom of the answer "nothing" I get from my daughter in response to the question, "What do you want to do today?" It's summer; she has no school, church, or sports schedule. There's a point to not doing things and that's to not do them.

When you're not doing things, you can be home where you can spend time with grandma when she stops up to see you and your guinea pigs. You can show her how you care for them and hold them. You can eat cookies in the middle of the morning. You can gaze into the grass and hunt for mica when she's leaving, and you can wander back into your house and hope the guinea pigs are still sitting on the hearth where you left them when you put on your flip-flops to walk Grandma out.

Then you can go into town and buy a coloring book and a candy bar, go for a swim, play basketball, read a book, and watch a cartoon or two. You can eat hot dogs in the park and play Wiffle ball with your cousins and go to the movies. That's what nothing looks like in the summer. I don't know what's better than that.

What do you want to do today? Don't ask.