It has been a little break from routine the last couple of weeks, which is going to continue at least until the end of the weekend.

Not so much a change in my day to day, as I am still working, but we had a hockey tournament in Vancouver, which was a change from the ordinary. Then the following week was filled with a board meeting for a group I am involved in, a massage (yes!), a baseball game for the younger one and a birthday family dinner.  This week, my shift changing to Monday to Friday (after having been Tuesday to Saturday so I will now get weekends off!), and I volunteered facilitating a financial literacy program to my son’s class at school this morning, as I will tomorrow, which is my husband’s birthday, and Saturday is my older son’s 13^th birthday and we will be in Vancouver again for another hockey tournament!

Today hasn’t been my typical Tuesday either. After volunteering, I spent a short time at work before going to visit my dad in the hospital.  I won’t go into details, but all is much better now, and I am so so thankful!  (Love you, dad)

I seem to be a creature of habit and familiarity, so these days have felt busy and can – and have – caused some anxiety around keeping up.  The deadline is this week for submitting stories again into a writing contest for picture books, which I mean to do 😊.

I seem to somehow manage, I keep reminding myself.  As much as I like routine and it is an element of comfort, the extra unexpected things bring a different perspective which it seems came to me at the perfect time.  These things over the last two weeks remind me that, although I am busy, I also have certain expectations and goals that I can’t compromise on.

Today was an unexpected day, but it brought with it extra family time, happy tears while visiting and a shared dinner with my mom and sister.  My grandpa would say before every shared meal (every time), “This should improve my outlook on life!”  and we learned today that my dad, upon encountering any kind, hard working young woman says to my mom (every time), “I hope her dad is as proud of her as I am of my girls.”

I am grateful for the experiences that come out of a broken routine.

Met Liefde / With Love,

Devon