Slow Sundays Rule

After a slow start this morning, I wandered into town with my eldest daughter. After quite some deliberation, we ended up at Starbucks. Armed with a cappuccino and a huge chocolate coin each, we found a quiet spot in the back of the café and enjoyed our drinks in silence for a few minutes.

She’s come such a long way in such a short time. After several years fighting against herself to leave the house, she is now working several days a week in a local sandwich shop, and walking into town with me on a weekend.

After finishing the drinks we wandered along the high-street to the supermarket and filled a basket with fruit. We’ve owned a nutri-bullet smoothie making machine for a couple of years, but haven’t used it recently. Hopefully the availability of a huge bowl of goodies will entice the kids into making their own drinks rather than purchase so many tooth-rotting energy-boosting concoctions.

Concoction is a good word, isn’t it.

My “word of the week” has been “dull”. It entered my lexicon via a wonderful friend who has a mastery of the English language I can only aspire towards. During the pandemic she appears to have found her calling, and is busy writing scripts for all manner of projects. She also calls me a “knob” alarmingly regularly, but in a strangely affectionate way.

It’s funny. Years ago I thought of myself as pretty self sufficient – a bit of an island. I’ve come to realise that I’m not. Yes, I can get along well enough single handed, but when my day is shared with a close friend or two, I become a much better version of myself. I think perhaps good friends keep you grounded – they make you realise that not only do they get to drop their act around you – you get to drop yours too – and when you peel away the act from most people, they’re not half bad underneath.

I also wonder if the pandemic has re-calibrated that which we think of as important too. We only get one go at this. Perhaps it’s time to pull a few walls down and speak a few truths. I’ve heard and said “I love you” more in recent weeks and months than I can ever remember – and have cherished every time it has been volunteered.

I’ve noticed hugs too. People are hugging. People are getting over themselves. I’m getting over myself. It’s so hard to be a little more gregarious after so many years vanishing into the shadows, but so worth it too.

Maybe I need to hunt out a copy of the Celestine Prophecy. I read it years ago, and it had quite the impact on me. Sure, it’s full of all manner of hocus-pocus, but it’s also full of wisdom and knowledge we already know but choose to ignore.