Let it be a beautiful mess

“It’s a beautiful day”,  (U2).

It’s Monday, the day that signals new beginnings, a new week and renewed commitment to our dreams and for some, diets.

In our new world, the world’s been rewritten, reinvented, and reimagined. The world seems a quieter place, at least for me. I move slowly about the world, practically on holidays until next year,  as 2021 eagerly awaits the next iteration of me.

 

Today I browsed for 2021 diaries in the one shop that’s open at my local Westfield and ordered coffee from my favourite café. And no, I don’t only go there because I receive a free mini handcrafted square of delicious milk chocolate, okay, that’s part of the reason. Mostly, it was to fuel my day. Waking up late, I needed energy to fuel the nothingness of my days. There are no papers to write, no sentences to edit, no deadlines to meet, but there will be, come next year. For now, a well-earned reprieve.

 

I’ve signed up to help a friend mark practice essays for VCE English students this week, so that will fill a couple of weeks. And it will require more coffee. I see the marking as professional development, time to hone my feedback and assessment skills. Not much interest, to non-teachers, so I won’t labour my point.

 

Also in news around Melbourne, school’s reopened today and the majority of classes are full with mask-adorning students. I wonder what they think about learning in this new era, this world full of hand sanitiser and alienating testing required before all airline travel. How do they feel they have coped with the all the changes, the lockdowns and the limitations. What new freedoms have they found amongst the chaos? What blessings have they gathered in these greatly challenging times?

 

As for me, I baked, chocolate chip cookies, cornbread, banana bread. I gardened and planted sunflowers and strawberries. I wrote this blog and my novel. I shopped online, and acquired health supplements and clothes. I quietly visited friends, when restrictions allowed and shared cups of tea, and I walked in new local gardens and relished viewing lakes surrounded by people lolling about on the grassy green lawns. I also, ordered my flat whites, my constant first-world luxury item, not all the time, but now and then. To assuage my need to sit down and share a coffee with a friend.

 

Thank you for reading. Post a comment and let’s get this blog community going. Perhaps share your beverage of choice, favourite new hobby or pastime or a new skill you learnt this year. I love reading your comments.

 

Today’s post was created by a skim flat white, courtesy of San Churro. Thank goodness not all cafes have closed. Like that meme says, I wish I could drink coffee, read books and nap all day. The hot drink brightens my days and awakens my inner drive.

Today, I was instantly called to write, I hope that this blog post finds you well, safe and with a smile.

 

Yours,

Raspberry & Rocks