Mundane.
The other day I got a text from my friend Andrew, asking, “How do you do things like have a job but stil go out at night and still manage to have energy for laundry/dishes?”
Because, let’s face it, when you think about all the things that have to happen in a day– or even a week– it looks like a montage without accompanying narrative:
A full life might just mean a busy life, a life that borders chaos. Even cloistered nuns have tasks to do in between their devotionals. But I’m not sure I have an answer between work/life balance, except that like anything else, the harder you work at it, the easier it gets.
For instance, if you’re anything like me, you start to do the dishes in spare moments where ordinarily you might be interested in anything else. You clean your bathroom because you care about a clean bathroom as much as you care about getting to work on time. When you line up your cowboy boots against the wall, you do so with love and care because those are your cowboy boots. You turn the mundane into the sacred because otherwise, you’d neglect the mundane.
That’s all I’ve got.
Also, yesterday I turned 27, and for my birthday I got a cold, and that’s why I’m writing for home, covered in blankets, watching “Revenge” and wondering who will bring me some spicy food. Anyone? Oh, I’ll just do it myself. AS PER UUSH.
A friend of mine who recently split from her husband (and hasn’t lived alone for 15 years) called to get my single-woman’s p.o.v. on her new reality, which basically consisted of . . .
her: “[Redacted] used to take care of groceries/house/car and I did the finances and health stuff. Now I’m supposed to do my own laundry, shopping, banking, taxes, manage the 401(k), car maintenance and registration, health insurance records, work full time, eat, and work out? And have a life? Is this what being a single adult is like, because I don’t love it.”
me: “[rueful silence]”
me, cruelly: “Hey, did you stop volunteering at [social service agency]? Let me know if I need to cover your shift until they find someone new.”
“Let me know if you need anyone to stare at you while you sob about your new lifestyle.”