The Day After: Savoring a New Ritual

Yesterday, Saturday, I hosted a baby shower luncheon for my daughter in law who will soon give birth to my first (and perhaps only) grandchild. I planned the occasion for weeks and it turned out to be as lovely as I could have hoped for it to be. Today I didn’t get out of bed until 2 o’clock! (I went to sleep at 2 am reading Proust.)

I have learned in my early 70’s that something I put a lot of effort into can sometimes wear me out afterwards. In other words, I now need some recovery time. So today is the “day after.” My daughter and I are still in our pj’s at 6 pm.! My husband lovingly contributed to our slothfulness by building a fire in the fireplace in honor of our “day after.”

We both ate brunch at abut 2:30. About an hour ago, at 5:30, my daughter asked if anyone wanted a cup of tea, which is usually part of our daily routine at about 4 pm. We jokingly said as we sipped our tea that it would soon be time for “cocktail hour.” I suddenly realized that we were compressing a normal day’s activities into a more compressed time period due to our late arising. This made us both laugh.

I have come to love these out-of-synch days. They allow me the opportunity to step off the hamster wheel I was on most of my life of “getting things done.” They allow me to actually take the time to “savor” the important events of my life. In the past, as a working mom, it was a challenge to fit in everything, and then to have to begin to plan the next activity as soon as event was over. The “day after” affords me the opportunity to contemplate the shape my life has taken as I enter the “golden years.” Now, I realize, I almost enjoy the “day after” as much as the anticipation of the day.