Missing Routines

We love spending time with our grandchildren and we are always willing to travel for the experience of being with them for weeks at a time. Usually it is two weeks at a time in Philadelphia with Katie and the three kids and usually a little shorter time with Ashely, Sean and Andrew because they both work and the little boy does daycare everyday.

When we are with the kids in their home our everyday activities are completely different from our everyday routines and very intense. It is all very exhausting but we love it. We are dealing with the kids all the time. Our recent trip was a little different because Henry is in first grade and Clara is in a daycare program four times a week but we still had Violet everyday. We also had the routine of picking up the kids from school. Todd would take them in the morning but we often went to pick them up with Katie. And let's not forget the daily routines of caring for Stella and taking her on regular walks. Something else that certainly is not part of our regular routines at home.

So what were our missing routines? As an older retired couple we don't have a lot going on but we do keep busy in our own ways. For me it is sometimes just doing laundry and running the dishwasher and Becky loves making our meals. I sit in my chair at the kitchen table throughout the day and write for hours at a time. Sitting at the table is my place to make mixes and explore my music collection. I spend time on Ancestry doing family history. Of course I read a lot. I'm always reading three books at a time. A novel, a biography or memoir and something nonfiction which is usually political or a history. While I'm doing all of these things I have music playing in the background. One of my music routines is to listen to new classical releases on Spotify every Friday or Saturday. Like clockwork. I'm always finding new things in my collection to explore and sometimes I do my Random Album Effect which is always interesting. I also have routines doing yardwork and cleanup around the house. Then there is the third floor where I've been doing some reorganization of "stuff" and certainly need to do more. Some of the things I mentioned during at the kitchen table I also do in the backyard sunroom which I reconfigured as a sort of year round office space with a stereo. Very nice. I don't watch a lot of television but have been going back to some old series like the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones because of their new shows recently released.

Now Becky has her routines too. She goes to the art studio on Hertel Avenue every day in the morning. Then she usually stops at one of the nearby grocery stores  and rotates between the Co-Op and Dash's and also Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Occasionally she will stop at the nearby Wegman's. She also spends a lot of time with her buying and selling pottery and other items on e-Bay and Etsy. She likes doing online shopping too. Then in the evening she watches several television series on Brit Box, PBS, HBO and others along with lots of old movies on TCM. She also spends a lot of time fussing with her plants and the garden. 

All of these things that we like doing everyday gets put on hold when we are staying with the kids. They all become our missing routines.