Ordinary Thoughts On An Ordinary Day

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So many ordinary thoughts make up an ordinary day, though they’re less likely to be remembered.

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For instance, I’ve noticed that it gets dark earlier. I’ll be sitting in my chair near the north window, and suddenly I’m sitting in shadow. I look outside, and it’s gray through the window screen.

The furniture around me has become dim and less defined. The seasons are changing.

Simple Everyday Things

At my age, I notice the simple, everyday things more. The little inconsequential things. But these elemental things make me smile.

Like:

• Daisy sitting at the window watching me when I’m on the porch, and I can see her mouth form a meow. She’s apparently saying, “Mom, you need to come inside.” This warms my heart every time.
• Seeing rain plopping on the tree leaves.
• The sight of the outdoor kitties coming up the steps because they know I’m putting food out for them.
• Scrolling through Instagram and seeing something beautiful and poignant about animals.
• Thinking of ways to organize my kitchen and bathroom for maximum efficiency.
• Seeing all three cats follow me into the bathroom and find a good spot to lie down while I shower.
• The kitties running for the big water bowl because they heard the ice maker and know I’m putting ice in their water. It fascinates them.
• Seeing the sun shining in the window.
• Having a cleanly mopped kitchen floor.
• Thinking of a new plant I want to try to grow next spring.
• Getting something fun in the mail.
• Thinking up a creative way to decorate with something I already have.

Things that happen every day, day after day, so many things that I’m grateful for.

So many things make up a single day in a person’s life, minute by minute, hour by hour. Most are the minutiae of everyday occurrences instead of the big picture, the things that will stand out for years to come.

Daily Routines

Routine rounds out my day. Pausing to drink a morning cup of coffee. Doing the laundry. Cooking a meal. Things that are scattered throughout the day like a long, meandering sentence.

And the pages on the calendar keep turning.

Life is made up of the little things that rarely make headlines. Watering a few plants, folding laundry, making the bed, running errands.

Settling into a favorite chair at the end of the day. Closing your eyes and waiting for sleep to find you.

Everyday life may seem uneventful from the outside, but it is filled with small comforts.

It is knowing which mug you reach for first, or the way light shines on a plate. The melody of an old song that brings back a memory.

Ordinary Days

Ordinary days are where much of life actually happens. They hold our routines, relationships, disappointments, and small pleasures. We don’t always recognize their value while we’re living them.

Years later, we often remember these simple moments most because our lives settle into them. The smell of something baking, or a quiet evening at home.

A beautiful life doesn’t necessarily have to be extraordinary. Sometimes it is simply a life that feels like your own.

A life that is filled with chores and things that need to get done.

Some things are accomplished quickly. Other things, less enjoyable things, get put on the back burner.

There’s:

• Weeding the garden and adding mulch around the plants
• Making an appointment to see the dentist
• Cleaning out the refrigerator
• Taking the car in for an oil change
• Ironing those new curtains you recently ordered

But for now, the sun is beaming through the window. And the cat lies in the pool of light, enjoying the sun’s warmth. And though it isn’t a magical moment, it’s still special and you want to soak it in.

Sometimes something in your mind pokes and niggles at you. The need to recall it doesn’t go away, even when you try to replace it with another mundane thought.

Trying to Summon the Memory

You try to concentrate, summoning the memory’s formation in your mind. But it doesn’t form into anything concrete just yet. It’s just a bulbous cloud drifting through your head.

You pause to thumb through a magazine. Turn on the oven to bake a cake and let the sweet aroma drift through the house. You open the windows and air out the rooms.

Still, you come back to it. You try to recall what is prodding at the edge of your thoughts.

What is knocking on the door of your memories, begging to be let in?

You see a face come into view and sharpen, becoming more defined. Prisms of light cast a spotlight on it so you’ll notice its importance.

It’s someone you knew long ago, but haven’t thought about in many years. Someone from another chapter in your life. You’re not even sure quite where.

A Memory of Someone

But today, somehow, for some reason, a bookmark is being laid across the page in your memory. It is commanding attention. What is it about this person that is suddenly coming to mind and stays there?

Then a clock sounds the hour, and you are drawn away from the reverie that prompted your concern.

A dog barks in the distance. You hear the wind gaining momentum outside and the tree branches scraping against the house.

A Hazy Recollection

The hazy recollection begins to fade, drifting away from immediate recall. The pages of that chapter in your life begin to close, and the murky memory slips away.

You suddenly remember leaving the hose running earlier, and you slip into your shoes by the back door. Rush out to the faucet and shut the water off.

You go on about your day like nothing was just niggling at your memory, prodding at you, asking to be recollected.

It will revisit you again. Maybe tomorrow, next week, or next month. Perhaps it will prompt you to recall it fully, and flesh itself into a true memory.

Maybe once you’re asleep, while dreaming, this memory may slip back in and prompt an uneasy feeling.

When You’ll Remember

But now more chores must be done before darkness fills the windowpanes. You spring into action and take care of what needs to be done.

Maybe you will remember it fully while you’re in the dentist’s chair having your teeth cleaned. Or when you’re standing at the ironing board ironing the new curtains to hang across the window.

If it’s important and truly needs attention, eventually the nebulous memory will drift back into focus. It will pop back into your mind as if to say, “Remember me?”

And maybe you will say to the memory, “Yes, but I was hoping to forget you.”