It never ceases to amaze me how good it feels to step out of the three-ring circus of Me, Myself and I for awhile and make someone else’s well-being Priority Number One. I busted my ass at work this week, covering for a coworker on vacation, and while it’s true that I’m very much focused on my patients and their needs during the work-week, once I get a day off it’s “all about me.” This might explain why I’ve not yet had the slightest impulse to be a father. Anyway, today was supposed to Me Day but it turned out to be M.A. Day. M.A. being Mary Alice, my wife. Okay, so I wasn’t a freakin’ saint or anything, but I could see she was stressed out about grad school stuff, so I did a few thoughtful things for her, like dropped her off and picked her up from the university, cleaned up her mess in the kitchen, cooked her dinner. I feel better than expected today, which makes me wonder… Perhaps my whole weekly routine — with the grueling work days of being totally absorbed in the needs of others and the off days of total self-absorbtion — needs some tweaking.
Lately, it seems the basic unit of my life has been “the week.” That’s just how I look at things. Five days on, two days off, then round and round we go. Many of the activities I consider important to me — like exercising, playing guitar, blogging, dates with my wife — I do so many times per week. I remember once thinking, “Wouldn’t it be better to make the day the basic unit of living?”, but I dimissed that as too pie-in-the-sky, too unrealistic. I mean what if on a given day I happen to be at work for eightteen hours or I have a dentist appointment or I’m sick and puking? No one can expect to taste happiness and fulfillment every day. Right?
Well shit, maybe I’ve had it all wrong. I can at least aspire to seize the day. Of course, I know all this, and that it would better yet to be fully present all the time, down to the nanosecond. One step at a time, Bobby. One step at a time.
So I just spent a half-hour trying to find the Latin word for “week,” thinking I’d use it for the title of this blog entry. You know, “Carpe [insert Latin word for week].” Pretty lame, I know, but here’s the thing: There is no Latin word for “week.” Holy shit! The road ahead couldn’t be more clear. I must blog every day.
[Thanks to Georg for planting the seed]