Field Note Friday, Edition 009: A Love Letter to Boring Days

Dear Regular Day,

You know who you are. You're no one's first choice. You're not photographed, posted, or shown off like the others. You're not going to be spoken of highly in years to come.

You're regular.

You're boring.

You consist of mostly work, little play. You're dishes, you're laundry, you're planning what's for dinner even when doing so feels like entering the seventh circle of hell (we have to do this every night forever?! Cue existential crisis). You're homework, you're nodding off on the couch, you're setting an alarm to do it all again tomorrow.

You're blah. You're whatever. You're a placeholder until the next exciting day comes around.

But, here's the most interesting part about you.

You're the most beautiful of them all.

And it is because you are so common that you are so beautiful.

No, we won't recount our regular days to our grandchildren. We won't post our dirty dishes or piles of laundry. We won't remember our commutes. In those ways, you can't compare.

But there's so much beauty in the regular.

You're the cup of coffee made just perfect. You're the look on our kids' faces when they finally understand the homework assignment. You're the song on the radio played at the perfect time.

You're predictable. You're reliable. You can be counted upon in your steady sameness.

You're the moment on a weekday night when the to-do list is finally set down, when we look around and notice it's just a normal night, and that normal night is perfect.

You contain so many moments that aren't noteworthy, but when you add them all up, you realize that's life. That's most of our days. And you give us a choice -- you make it clear that we can either appreciate you, or we can keep looking forward to the next big thing. What you don't tell us is that there are consequences in ignoring you. You forget to mention that if we don't slow down to appreciate you, there is significantly less joy in our lives. You offer so much to us, unassuming and generous, but the burden lies on us to notice.

I hope you're noticed, valued, and appreciated for your beauty.

You may never be the day we write home about. You may never make the highlight reel.

But you are the day we're living.

And maybe somewhere along the way, we'll realize you were never ordinary at all.

With love,
Me