Sunday.

 I don't have a traditional workweek. I'm also 71, so some weeks, the days just morph into one, Monday being no different from Saturday. There are daily routines but no planning.

Yet today is a Sunday, and Sundays are 'the last days standing' in terms of traditions. 

I slept late this morning (9:30), had coffee and a bite to eat, sat around the breakfast table with my partner, and had our morning talk about the woes of the world and things that were on our minds, thoughts on the family, and reminding ourselves we still have some planning to do regarding our summer vacation. 

We noticed the hydrometer read 34, which is pretty dry, with 40 being roughly optimal, and decided to open all the windows, turn off the heat, put the kettle on for additional dampness and see what happens; we reached 36 and decided to just say 'f**k it and go outside for a walk, on this freezing but sunny day. 

I'm no expert, but walking is the best medicine. Better than jogging or working out, walking gets the blood flowing, allows you to think things through, and doesn't necessarily wear you out for the rest of the day. We walked into the sun; after the last few grey skied months, we needed this vitamin D hit, and it felt good; we talked as we walked about small things and everything that was going on in the world. The world feels uncertain since the orange monster is in the white house; who knows what will disrupt our peaceful lives in the coming years? But today, there is the sun and blue skies, and that is pure ecstasy. 

Almost home, we decided to have a coffee and ice cream to round off the Sunday walk, each an Americano and one ball of ice - vanilla - damn, life is good, the sun shining through the coffee shop window, delicious freshly ground coffee and ice cream made by the owner himself, fresh, tasty and lots of other superlatives, this is a Sunday, the way it should be. Doing a 'reset' and remembering that the small things keep us grounded; the small things remind us how lucky we are to live here, our peaceful little corner of the world.

Now home, I sit at my desk writing these few words, not finding the ones to describe the contentment of this moment. I also realise that it is just a moment, just a pause between the 'hustle and bustle' of the day-to-day things that sometimes overtake us. 

The world is changing. If it has not already, it will never be as it was, but that's the reality. Screens have won. When out walking, I saw parents walking with their kids, the kids walking with heads bowed, looking at screens as they walked, walking past the serenity of the lake and the wildlife swimming there, ducks, geese, and gulls, oblivious to all the art nature gives us, fixating on the screen. These are the times we live in, reality and fake, blending into one; all we can hope for is that some good things remain, like Sundays.