It's All About that Third Cup of Coffee
Until the water runs out
As the new year approached and I geared up for the return to a more set schedule, I found myself reflecting on how much I look forward to the change of pace for a few weeks around the holidays. Mostly for me, this means less scheduled days: a second (read: third) morning cup of coffee while playing Connections, a mid-morning haircut, that recipe that takes a little more time. Overall, there are just fewer constraints: no meetings that start at a certain time, not much expectation of being available.
Because I'm lucky enough to work in a profession where our offices are actually closed for a couple weeks—the inbound emails and requests for things mostly stop. So you're not working AND work isn't piling up. In the last moments of this year's break, I found myself wishing that there was a little more of this built into the cadence of the year, more true pauses. I wasn't ready for the return to routine, just yet.
In true careful-what-you-wish-for fashion, a snow/ice storm rolled through on Monday and just to make sure that everything was really disrupted, it knocked out power to a pump at the city water treatment facility, leaving everyone without water. Quite the reminder that the routine I was lamenting going back to can be interrupted at any moment, for ANY reason, many of which do not involve lovely, quiet, extra-cup-of-coffee moments.
Like so much in life, there is a dichotomy here—breaks in routine can feel nourishing and refreshing or they can leave you yearning for some normalcy back in your life. These last couple days have been nothing if not a reminder of that for me. So many little daily activities I just turned on a faucet to do: brushing my teeth, rinsing my dishes, washing my hands (which apparently I do a lot).
Little things I totally took for granted, and alongside that the gratitude that I'm only impacted by this in little ways. We didn't lose power in the storm, so the lights are still on and heat is still running. We don't have health issues that make this hard to navigate. We had just been to the store and had lots of sparkling water on hand for drinking, we've got some water in a bathtub for flushing (and the occasional hand washing, see above), and a couple of teakettles of boiled water. We've had kind offers from friends outside the city to share water or come over and take a shower (which I'll totally be doing if it doesn't come back today).
And in that way, this unplanned and unwelcome break in the routine serves a purpose. A reminder that so much of the routine that I wasn't ready to get back to is made up of tiny little amazing things that I completely take for granted. It's easy to lament not having more time with that cup of coffee, without pausing to appreciate the clean, safe water, literally available at my fingertips that it took to make it. Perspective.
Now about getting back to that routine—bring it on.
And by it, I mean the water.
This Week Last Year
Shifts and changes were certainly a theme in the second half of 2024 for me, but this look back reminded me I was feeling it even in January.
Transitions
I've been thinking about transitions lately. Not so much the arbitrary turning of the calendar ones, like the new year, but the shifts in our lives. Sometimes they are big and obvious— starting a new job, graduating, getting married, having children, or caring for a parent. The beginnings of things. On the flip side, endings of similar things cause an e…
Squirrel of the Week
I bought myself these earrings at a holiday market and just can't get over how detailed they are (that little pink nose!). Here's a link to their creator's Instagram.
How's 2025 starting for you? Would love to hear your thoughts on disruptions in routine. What little daily things are you grateful for? Also, do you wash your hands so much (I think this is honestly a holdover from 2020 for me, maybe)?
*Author's Note: I realize that I'm writing here about a serious situation with a somewhat light touch—which is something I'm super grateful to be able to do. There are city workers who have been working around the clock in extremely cold temperatures to get the water treatment facility back up and running, and folks for whom loss of running water causes way more than a minor inconvenience. Holding all of this close and hoping for swift resolution.
What a fabulous issue this time around! Great little piece about your experience without water--loved your takeaways about how vulnerable our routines really are and how many taken-for-granted little miracles happen in our everyday lives.
In 2018/19, one of our dogs was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Caring for him sometimes caused very distressing disruptions to my routine, and I learned an important lesson: No matter how much I don't want to do "the thing" (go to work, keep a social plan I regret making, attend a dreaded appointment, etc.), the ability to do said thing means everyone is well in my world, and THAT is something to be grateful for.