Old Routines

This past week, I was on training in the next province very, very close to our very first home that John and I purchased together - 19 years ago!! It brought back such bittersweet memories for me to drive there every morning on my way to the training centre. 

We lived there for the first 5 years of our marriage and I have some very fond memories of that first home.   It was in a beautiful location on the very edge of a huge provincial park.  And one of things I remember most about living there was how much John and I used to walk.   In fact it was our routine to go for a walk almost every single night after dinner for about an hour or more.  We had a dog at the time and so of course that forced us to go for walks. 

Another thing that I remembered living there was how much more simple our life was... yes it was before children, however I think it was more than that.... we didn't have a computer then... and we only had a small tv. We had no dishwasher - so we did the dishes together.  There were fewer things to distract us. 

In the evenings after our walk, since I didn't have a computer,  I would sit in the living room and knit and chat with John or read.  Or we would sit on our front porch with cups of coffee.  If John was working evenings, I would make myself a cup of tea and sit in one of the chairs in our bedroom and read or write.  It was a MUCH quieter lifestyle indeed.  And yet I never remember feeling isolated or lonely...we chatted with our neighbors and on weekends we visited with friends. 

When I talked about it with John last night, he immediately suggested that we start going for evening walks again after supper. He remembers that tradition with fondness as well! So last night, all three of us bundled up to go for a long walk. It was lovely do see everyone's Christmas lights. 

In the new year, I'm going to review our calendar and see how I can ensure that we have at least 3 evenings per week where we have nothing planned except to have family dinners, go for long walks, read books and chat.  Sometimes old routines are the best.