Foam Peanut Days

Sometimes, the days tend to blur together. I look at the calendar, pick a random square and begin to wonder if anything actually happened that day. Take Tuesday, for instance. Nothing extraordinary occurred. It was a run-of-the-mill, routine day. As time moves on, I will slowly and sadly forget those waking hours. Maybe, in the grand scheme of life, certain days are meant to fade into the background.

If a cardboard box represented a person’s life and the objects it contained represented precious memories or moments, then the space in between would represent the days when nothing happened. Even in highly fulfilling or exciting lives, some days are less fulfilling or exciting than others are. If a person could somehow collect a memento every day, there would be too many for any single box to hold. The only way to make them all fit would be to shrink them down, thereby reducing their importance.

Some people are better at packing than others. They know what they want and how everything will fit: a marriage here, a new home there, a promotion, a family, trips to remote countries and rewarding hobbies. They manage to live their lives with such quality that their ordinary days are more than air in between precious objects. Those days are foam peanuts, cushioning valuable memories and keeping them protected when tragedy strikes and drops a bowling ball on their box.

I'm skipping all over the place and not sure where this is going, but I know I'm trying to avoid phrases like "living life to the fullest" or "making the most of every moment". What I wanted to say is that I shouldn't stress out about days when nothing "significant" happens. I just have to be sure that those days are foam peanut days.

What type of day is that? That is a day where I am friendly, aware and active. That is one where I eat properly, exercise properly, get enough sleep, earn my keep, continue to learn, continue to write, laugh a little, love a little and drink good coffee. I was going to include "make the world a better place", but that seemed insincere and over the top. It’s on the list, by the way. It’s just invisible.

I should add that I first thought of comparing ordinary days to bubble wrap, but foam peanuts seemed to work better. Admittedly, bubble wrap is much more fun. Popping them drives some people nuts, but I thoroughly enjoy it.