Our Daily Routines

Now that we have been “doing covid” for over a year, we are pretty well-set in our routines.

Here are our daily activities: eat breakfast, read the paper, go for a walk, eat lunch, read a book, go for another walk, eat dinner, watch TV, go to bed. Next day, repeat. These daily activities are interspersed with occasional zoom calls, virtual bridge lessons, showers, laundry, putting out the garbage. There are other highlights: put on mask and go to the grocery store, put on mask and go to the drug store, put on mask and go to…hmmm where else can we go that’s not too scary?

In a previous post I laid out our lengthy nighttime routines: finding our pyjamas and socks, brushing our teeth, washing our faces, donning our “appliances,” and then, since we are now wide awake, reading a boring book to put us to sleep. But there is one more item that goes into all of this: taking our pills. Yes I do mean pillS. This is harder than it seems. One pill requires that we take it on an empty stomach, another one says to take it before bedtime, another one recommends taking it before a meal, and yet another one says “Do Not take this medication with any other medication!” It almost requires an algorithm to figure it all out.

Once we have our pill routine organized, another factor comes into play – our memory. How do we remember to take all these medications at the right times? One reader has an alarm set up on her phone. But if she forgets to charge the phone, then the pills are out of luck. Other people use a place as a reminder. Put them by your place at the table and see them when you sit down for meals. But if you are lucky enough to get takeout one day and eat it in the car, well so much for that pill. Or you can buy one of those little divided boxes and fill it up according to the hour. At the end of the day, when the boxes are still full, just dump the pills into your hand, say a little prayer, and swallow them all at once.

I am sorry to tell you that these nighttime and pill routines are not going away any time soon. In fact, they might get more complicated as we age. But the daily activities? Well we’re all hoping that they might change sometime soon! The covid variants are competing with the vaccine for dominance, and we are cheering loudly for the vaccine. There are 4 to choose from, but the best choice is to “take any one that is offered.”

The possibility of vaccines gives us something weighty to think about: how are our routines going to change when we have a chance at freedom? At our age it’s been hard to watch the days and weeks go by as we stick to our schedules, without much meaningful purpose. I’ve been asking people how they’re going to react to freedom, and here’s what I’ve heard:

Some people are desperate to sit in a restaurant and be waited on. This is mostly women. Women also mention shopping malls quite a lot. On the other hand, men want to watch sports with a live audience, such as cheering on the Blue Jays. Some even want to play a sport; on a tennis court or curling rink. Several people are contemplating a travel adventure, maybe somewhere in Canada first – carefully testing the waters in a safe place. Get home quickly if necessary.

But there are some routines that people have embraced during the pandemic: going for a daily walk on our beautiful city trails, making yummy loaves of bread on the weekend, reading novels that are more than 150 pages, buying fewer clothes and wearing them longer, getting in touch with family and friends more often.

These are pretty important life lessons learned during a pretty tough year. If you have any to add, send us a comment.

Sue