Routines

Routines are wonderful methods of keeping one organized.  Most people have their daily rituals such as getting up, having breakfast, brushing teeth and hair, washing face, getting dressed, and so on.  One morning as I stood in the bathroom I wondered if I had already brushed my teeth and had to verify whether I had or not by touching my toothbrush to see if it was wet.  It was dry and yet I felt as though I had just done my routine so as I brushed away I considered the reality of having too much routine.  Here I was, not yet retired, and yet every day seemed the same and I worried about what retirement would be like which would be even more of the same thing.  I left the bathroom with determination.

       As I sat across from Mother while eating breakfast I asked her if she had ever had that type of experience.  She looked down at her tray of various pills, looked up at me and grinned.

       “I put the pills out first thing before I sit down because if I don’t I will come back with the coffee and toast and wonder if I had already taken them.”

       I guess that answered my question.  So I told her my Plan.

       “Mor, there is danger in too much routine and I was thinking that a person needs to ensure that something in the day is a highlight so you can remember ‘that happened on Monday’ and ‘this happened on Tuesday’ because otherwise all the days are the same.  That’s just not good.”

       Mom agreed with me and we continued to discuss ways of staying nimble in our minds when my brother showed up.  He looked at us as we continued our discussion and then asked us,

       “You do know you can just turn on the TV or the computer and presto there is the day?”

       That was on Saturday and we remember that because we realized that no one can come into the middle of a conversation and understand where we were at the beginning!  J