For me, my first coffee sip is with the nose. Having that steaming dark freshness clambering over my olfactory system grants a momentary lull and a psyche lift.
Tuesday’s Wandering Thoughts
My wife said, “I’m going to wear my blue sweater that I wore the other day, but I think you can see through it in the sunlight.”
I answered, “You can.”
“You could see through it?”
“Yes.”
“You could see through it but you chose not to say anything?”
“You’re very fashion aware. It’s a loose knit sweater. I thought you knew.”
Eyes rolling, throwing her hands up, she stormed off. I shrugged, guessing, I must be the asshole for not saying anything, and then reflecting on the entire process one more time.
We didn’t stay angry long; after being together for over fifty-two years as friends and everything else, we don’t stay angry. Act out or vent, move on. She came out, ready to go. She wasn’t wearing the blue sweater in question but a light blue sweater. I said, sincerely, “You look nice.”
She grinned at me. “Not see through?”
“Totally opaque,” I replied.
Monday’s Wandering Thoughts
So many products proclaim as part of their instructions, “For Best Results”. But experienced folks among us realize that’s a generality. Sometimes the ‘Best Results’ aren’t so kind for us. As you age and things change, so does your expectations for ‘Best Results’.
Sunday’s Wandering Thoughts
He and his wife made some plans for cleaning, organizing, and purging. “Can we do this after you come back from your writing?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered with confidence. He had other plans as well. He could do it all, couldn’t he? Of course he could, right?
“That’s been taken under review,” his neurons replied. “We’ll see.”
Friday’s Wandering Thoughts
He told his friends, “With all the recent smoke, I’ve added some things to my morning routine. Now I spray each nostril with saline spray, and then put eye drops in. I can’t help myself from thinking when I do, is this the smoke, or getting old, or functions and tissue breaking down?”
His friends replied in unison, “Yes.”
Wednesday’s Wandering Thoughts
Pleasant midday walk. 74 F, sunshine and a delicate breeze. No smoke smells, just cut grass and cooking foods. A doe and her fawns eat and digest in a yard across from an elementary school. Feels comfortable striding through the neighborhood. Feels normal, stress free.
Thursday’s Wandering Thoughts
Stopped by Starbucks yesterday to meet a friend. They had a big display up celebrating twenty years of the pumpkin spice flavor. I remembered the first time I ever had one. My wife and I lived in Half Moon Bay, California. Relatives from the eastern US were visiting. An oddly chilly, damp day, we went to the Tech Museum in San Jose. Not far away was a Starbucks. We walked to it to get a hot coffee drink and on a whim, several of us had pumpkin spice lattes. The flavor surprised and impressed me.
But they or I changed in the intervening time. I had a sampler they’d put up; after a sip, the tastebuds said, “Oh, god, no.” I tossed it.
Wednesday’s Wandering Thought
So the coffee shop had food made in error, a type of breakfast sandwich on an English muffin. A barrista walked around the business, inquiring of customers if they would like the free food. Explaining what it was, he said, “It’s not piping hot, but it’s still warm,” in a mildly apologetic tone.
That made me smile.
Michael Seidel, writer 