Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The Joy of the Mundane

I didn't mean to go quite so long between posts. Fearless Husband is home, though he leaves again soon. We haven't done anything special, haven't gone on any adventures, haven't broken out of the rut.

The rut is rare for us, since FH is gone so much, so the rut is not a miserable place to be. There is a delicate and quiet happiness in the everyday puttering and the mundane ordinariness that we fall into...

...the quick but heartfelt goodbye kiss when I drop him off at the pier each morning, his head tilting a fraction more than usual so he doesn't bop me with the brim of his cap...

...the tattered terrycloth robe and pajama bottoms he wears for half the day on weekends, which you'd think I'd hate but which I vastly prefer to a tattered undershirt and boxers...

...weekday breakfasts eaten on the fly at 5:30 in the morning, forget fancy omelettes or waffles, instead oatmeal or scrambled eggs and fruit, prepared quickly but with love...

...packing lunches and snacks the night before with not-as-much-variety-as-I-wish-they-had, since we're both trying to lose weight (and also because he's not home for very long and a big variety of foods purchased would not get used up before he has to leave again) but still each element fresh and pretty and in its own container, nestled in the Mr. Bento I was so proud of finding on eBay....

...lying on the bed laughing over nothing, talking about the banalities of the day and listening to each other's heartbeat...

There are so many on this planet for whom the above would be absolute heaven...the lonely, the dispossessed, the hungry; those in pain, in want, in need. So, I have intense gratitude for the joy and serenity found in the mundane moments of life. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I hope I can pay it forward.