Sometimes one gets bogged down in routine. We get up (tired); go about doing the same daily tasks; eat our meals at the same time, often the same menu week after week; do the regular routine chores, following the same pattern or schedule; and then go to bed (tired), sleep, and then get up to start it all over again the next morning. But occasionally a few unexpected, non-routine events come along, disrupting that hum-drum routine and bringing a bright spot to the otherwise gray, predictable, hum-drum schedule. Looking forward to such moments (or hours or days) is good. It helps one get beyond the routine.
I’m not saying that I’m bored or in a rut. Actually, I thrive on routine; I dislike change or disruptions to my schedule. But I’ve been looking forward to next week in anticipation of a welcome break from that routine.
My brother, whom I see maybe once or twice a year and that for maybe a day at the most, will be visiting us for about two and a half days! Granted, he has other people he also wants to see during that time, but it will still be the longest time we’ve spent together in quite a while. I’m looking forward to talking and laughing and drinking a lot of coffee with him. And I’m sure there’ll be a fair share of good-natured, brotherly ribbing.
I thought that nothing could top that momentous upcoming event, but then I got a call from Craig, a friend and former roommate from our sophomore year
of college. We not only were roommates but also were both history education majors, so we had many of the same classes together. We crammed for exams together; read each other’s term papers; discussed economics, history, and politics; played practical jokes on each other; worked together in the same extension ministry; and were in each other’s weddings. Then life happened. We each went our separate ways.
I haven’t seen Craig in six or seven years, and then for only an hour or so. Before that, we had reunited only one other time in about 35 years. During our recent phone conversation, we reminisced and laughed a lot. And then Craig said that he’s coming to town next week and would like to visit for a couple of days. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more laughing and reminiscing with him next week.
Now when something as momentous as these two events occurs–and both in the same week at that–even an old tied-to-routine guy like myself is willing to cast aside that routine. All the people who think of me as always having my nose in a book will be shocked; I won’t be doing any reading next week. Everyone who thinks that all I do is sit behind a computer tapping out articles and books and other drivel will be similarly disappointed; I won’t get any writing done next week. And all of you who think that since I work from home I’m retired and don’t really work at all but have all the time in the world to do as I please will, for once, be almost right.
Only one week, and such a rare one! I’m looking forward to relishing every minute of it. Reading, writing, and routine can wait!