How the Ordinary

Hello friends,

If you’ve been reading my work for awhile, you know I love the small things. Today I’m thinking about how the appreciation for the ordinary makes my life better.

On one of my walks this past week, I passed a construction site. Across the narrow street was a box truck with its back door rolled up, revealing the inside of the space. Two men sat inside the back of the box truck. Together, they’d fashioned makeshift chairs from crates and boxes, and sat facing each other across a storage crate table. They were talking and eating lunch.

Then I noticed what looked like a tea pot on the table crate. This is the US. Workers taking tea breaks is not ubiquitous here. That pot stood out to me like a small beacon, reminding me of my own love of drinking tea on a break. The ritual of it. The warmth and comfort the tea imparts. Drinking tea is a respite and reset. Drinking tea opens up a small bit of space and time during the day.

I was so charmed by the scene, I did not stop to snap a photo, instead, I simply stored the image away in my mind:

Two workers on a break together who’d made a homey resting spot from the materials they had on hand, plus the addition of a little pot for tea. It was all so ordinary, yet special. They had made their break better, and in sharing conversation over lunch, made their lives better, too. I wonder if the work day went better after that break.

I bet it did.

Wishing you a host of small, ordinary moments like this. And here’s to hoping you notice them. Here’s hoping we all do.

all the best — Thorn

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