Routines and Other Monday Musings

It's a lovely President's Day in Streeterville. The National Weather Service tells me that it's 34 degrees outside and the lake temperature is 36 degrees. The Mini doesn't do lake water temperatures. In spite of the chilly temperatures outside I know that it is Spring or at least Spring is coming soon. Pitchers and catchers reported for Spring Training last week. Robins, a harbinger of Spring? Heck no, the Cubbies honing their baseball skills, that's the true sign of Spring. Hope springs eternal in Spring. Right now, this is the year. Forget the bad memories of last October.

Anyway, the view from the 14th floor is a bit fogged up, as it sometimes gets when I do the laundry. The moisture coming out of the dryer tends to do that. Speaking of the dryer, it just buzzed at me, telling me that the current load, "C'est finis." Back in a moment. Must tend to the mundanities that make life move onward.

I am back, as promised. Hardly missed me, did you? I have routines, as most people do, I suspect. Babs sometimes accuses me of being obsessive/compulsive, a regular Monk (You know, the guy played by Tony Shaloub on USA.) Perhaps I am a bit too regular at times about my routines, but routines provide structure in a chaotic life. Routines are a bit of a security blanket at times, a comfort, something you can count on.

In my life, when I have to think about so many things, routines give me guidance through periods of time when I don't have to think about things. I can just do, unconsciously, and move onward. I get up when the alarm goes off. I make the coffee. I clean the kitty litter box. I shower. I shave. I dress. I have pretty much the same breakfast day in, day out, except for Sundays. On Sundays Babs and I have waffles or pancakes and read the newspaper front to back, often while listening to classical music. OK, so that's a routine too. Like I said, comforting.

On Saturdays, I work out in the morning. Babs and I go out for breakfast. I take in the week's dry cleaning and pick up the fresh. I go to the grocery store. We clean the house. Sundays are for laundry. No clean underwear on Monday, otherwise. Sunday afternoons are for running long distances and burning calories to offset the excess calories I consumed all weekend. Mondays I work on new songs so I can be ready to show them off in my songwriting class on Tuesday.

With all the structure and routine, you might wonder when I ever do anything that's a break with routine. Hmmm. I can pencil that in for Saturday, and work my housecleaning in on Sunday. Maybe go to the grocery store on Monday after work and miss a day of blogging, since I always do that when I get home from work, right after I go downstairs and pick up the mail.

By the way, I find myself doing the laundry on a Monday, because for one thing it's a holiday, and for another, we had unexpected visitors from Minneapolis yesterday and Babs only let me do one load of laundry, so the windows wouldn't be fogged up when the guests arrived. Had to do one load, though, so I'd have clean underwear today. Makes me wonder if I shouldn't go out and buy an extra pair or two of underwear so I can make it a bit longer than a week, if necessary. That would provide me with a break from routine.

The big break from routine will come in the first week of April when Babs and I are taking a trip to Miami. Of course, that too is a sort of routine. We take a Spring Break trip every year when I'm off work from school. We have found that we like South Beach and go there semi-regularly. We have tried several hotels and we've found that we like the Raleigh. Oh my God! It's a routine trip to Miami to stay at the Raleigh. I have been told, though, that Mojitos are no longer a part of the routine. They are passe. Caipirinas are now the routine drink of the fashionable drinking set.

I realize now that my life is one big set of routines and I am, to a great degree, really predictable. Somehow, I fail to get worried about that. I like my routines. I have chosen them because they represent who I am. Now if you'll excuse me. I think I can find time to go for a run and still squeeze in the songwriting work before Happy Hour and subsequent dinner and the usual Monday night lineup on TV and bedtime and getting up for work tomorrow and........