You know how your daily routine can drive you crazy sometimes? It becomes boring. Stale. Tedious. You feel as if you are living the film Groundhog Day over and over.
And then you go on a very long trip. And every day is different. Some days you do not know what you are going to eat or do or if you will talk to another human. Don’t get me wrong, it was all magical and I loved it but it took going through all of that to realize that I love my routine. I longed for it.
I missed seeing my gym buddy and talking in the sauna together. Or how my family says morning prayers together before we part for work and school. I missed my weekly trips to Costco or driving my car (I realized I had only been in a car once the entire trip when a parishioner at St Augustine’s drove me into town one day).
This reminds me of one of my favorite Anne Sexton poems, “Good Morning” Sexton finds joy in her morning routine, “in the hair I brush each morning/in the Cannon towel, newly washed/that I rub my body with each morning.” I understand. There is joy in my coffee (instead of tea) which my husband prepares perfectly for me each morning as he knows my coffee/sugar/milk ratio better than I.
Sometimes it is good to know what is coming next. To walk through life without drama or too much excitement. And it is also nice to shake things up every once in a while, it reveals how rich my regular life truly is.
My 91 year old mom lived a life full of routine and surprises, some good and some bad. Now, as she lives life joyfully in her routine; the surprises and variances from her routine are all bad and set her in a tailspin that only lots of prayer and coached deep breathing can stop. Thank God for His grace.
Yes I feel all of this. Nothing like traveling and nothing like coming home.