Ten Offline Things I've Done in the Past Week-ish
1. I went to a lovely café with my lovely sister Wendy! (Peep the cutest little salt and pepper shakers at the edge of the photo.)
2. Ricky and I visited a new restaurant! The burgers at Gladiator Burger were delicious- juicy, generously-topped, and fresh. We shared a drink and I got to choose because it was my birthday. At thirty-one years old, I am still a proud enjoyer of orange pop!
3. Also on my birthday, I got a very large pistachio latte from Starbucks! (People give you funny looks when you use your free birthday drink to only order a tiny drink, so I got the biggest one and then shared it with Ricky.) It was the first time I’ve ever gotten an extra little message on my cup!
4. ALSO on my birthday, I voted in our provincial election. It was my first time voting. The current state of our world has me feeling like it’s important for each of us to do every single little thing that we can to help point this world in a more hospitable and more caring direction.
5. I let myself sit and cry about that awful meeting at the White House, where Trump and Vance showed such disrespect to Zelensky and the people of Ukraine. (This is dangerously close to being an online activity, rather than offline. But the fact that I chose to sit with the grief and anger that I felt instead of scrolling on to happier things felt “offline” to me.)
6. I went on an icicle-viewing walk! So gorgeous and ominous. Best not to linger to close to buildings at this time of year!
7. Ricky and I did a little two-hour trip to a one-kilometer skating trail. I completed ten loops. I’ll let you do the math on that. It was exhausting in the best way. Every winter I am reminded that it’s worth the hassle of driving outside your regular routes to visit somewhere that’s even just a little bit different than your home area. It feels exciting and invigorating. On our drive, we were able to deduce from the unique layers of the snowbanks that the snow had been there for approximately five years. On our way home from skating, we stopped at a café for some lunch. I ordered the potato dill soup with my sandwich and guess what? It had ACTUAL DILL PICKLES in it! It was pretty good.
8. I participated in playing a new game that Kenton and Callie introduced to my family. Any time I play a game, I feel pretty proud of myself for being willing to participate. I must be a pretty mature human being. Hehe.
9. Ricky and I visited a church. It was a meaningful, thought-provoking, and comforting experience. We felt a little old because we both felt that the music was rather loud.
10. I continued to do some supply EA shifts and had some sweet, warm experiences and also some experiences that left me buzzing in a bad way for hours afterwards. After one delightful shift, I sat in the spring-like sunshine of my living room and read poetry, drank coffee, and felt pretty good. I am grateful to have enjoyed this wintery winter immensely, but the sunshine and some slightly warmer temperatures recently have reminded me of all the loveliness that is just ahead of us. How joyful to be on the verge of all this new life!
How about you? What offline activities have you been up to lately?
What a gentle and interesting post. ❤️