romanticizing everything, nothing and sunday

at my friend’s recent housewarming party, someone asked me what my dream day was. and it wasn’t until i spoke about following up fresh produce-laden lunch with a random movie that i realized i was describing sunday.

a great work out. a home coffee at 8 a.m. farmer’s market with him, then lunch by him. an outside coffee around 2 p.m. movies. silly snacks. catch up with a long distance friend. podcast and slow-cooked dinner. clean. early sleep. and deep laughter, and conversation, somewhere in between.

by living between the end of the weekend and the beginning of the week, sunday means that seeing friends is extra credit. when you don’t need it to pass, it feels like an after school quiz in which the stakes are low by design. and the teacher’s giving hints that basically give the answers away for free.

the best sundays feel like my birthday, the worst just feel like a day that still somehow include cardamom coffee and getting the laundry done.

i’ll admit that i first felt kind of lame that my dream day was so simple. but i also, even more so, felt blessed. to be in a relationship that makes grocery shopping truly one of life’s greatest joys, and to be at a place with myself where working out fills my cup instead of threatens the very existence of my dinner plate.

we’re in this weird moment in culture where tiktok tells us to romanticize our little morning lattes and walks. i’ve taken the advice, ran with it, and am now back to tell you that it’s somewhat unsustainable. sometimes we need shortcuts, sometimes looking for art in every corner puts exhausting pressure. sometimes we can’t romanticize our little morning lattes and walks because we don’t like how the mirror looks and how the talk went.

i think to truly romanticize is to find a corner of life that you can visit when you need it. to be so human that you prefer small doses of special moments because you know that scarcity can be what makes them special.

to truly romanticize is to realize that romance itself doesn’t need to be loud and overwhelming, but can look like accidentally ordering two bad meals in a row and finding joy in a losing streak. that sundays, as simple as they are and only sometimes, can be dream days.