Our little family has been talking a lot about rituals, as my belly grows, and we will finally stay put for the next several months. Thankfully through all this talk, we've been able to increase the rituals we practice as well. A blog I just read put it well: rituals are habits steeped in meaning. I'm not sure if "steeped" was from her wording or mine, but it's exactly the kind of word for me that embodies ritual. It's a tea word. I still drink tea occasionally here in the hot season, but it's a far less common ritual in my days. In cold MN where I stayed indoors mostly at a desk for so many hours in a day, tea was my treat, my break in routine, my ritual of peace and and allowable pause. Here in the heat I'm enjoying likely my only cup of tea for the day. It's still ritualistic but it's not the punctuation in my day. The beautiful thing is that the warmth is spread throughout my day - literally and metaphorically. I'm warm and free - to structure my days as I desire.
This gift comes with great responsibility. I haven't yet created a routine with new punctuation - new pauses, checkins, realigning in the microcosm of a day so that my days spent add up to a life lived with intention. But we are trying.
New punctuation that we've developed:
- Daily devotions and prayer for others together in the morning based on The Common Prayer
- Daily writing our thoughts down, not to be read by one another (morning pages)
- Finding and upholding our little family traditions for special days - starting with Easter, including the sunrise
Punctuation we hope to incorporate more of:
- Sundays as a holy day of rhythm, consistency, gathering with friends
- Designated special projects time (alone but aligned and intentional)
- Daily habits for me - drinking enough water, stretches, exercise routines
- Show and tell of inspiring articles, videos, things we're thinking about
When we add a third member to our family, our punctuation will undoubtably change. She will add structure in ways we could never build in, but she'll also fit into the rhythms we've created, which is part of the reason this feels like such an important time to find some of our own.
