I THINK this is week 3. Is it week 3 or week 4? I really need to pull out a calendar and figure out what day it is.

Having finished my first travel adventure, I have now settled into a somewhat predictable pattern on this sabbatical/gap year of mine. I actually do love routine, and this routine has me feeling well rested and decidedly content.

We rise later around here, at least for me. I actually don’t have to set an alarm at all, but I like getting up with my last child who is still in high school. So 7:45 is generally when I make my way downstairs for coffee, a little time with him, prayer, and catching up online.

Typically that means either the NY Times or, if I’m fatigued from the news, watching a few YouTube videos and glancing at FB and twitter. At first, this was taking far too long so I now set a strict limit on being done with all of this by 9. And getting clothes on. Because the Jehovah’s Witness ladies came to the door the other morning at around 11 and I still wasn’t dressed and I felt shame. The gap year needs to be a no shame zone.

Then there is running. Most days there is running. And I can either go 2 miles or 6, depending on what I feel like. Because I am the boss of my gap year. Chief cook and bottle washer of my own gap year. I need business cards with that very thing written on them in big letters. Comic sans font, too, to throw people off.

I then have sort of a rotation of different things (is this boring? I feel like this might be boring). I either clean, or film a YouTube video, or run an errand. Or start a project. OMG, the BEST thing has been happening, you guys . . .I can start a project and actually have time to finish it. Or not. What IS that? Insanity.

There’s usually also a fairly substantial block of travel planning. One of my sons, William, has just agreed to an adventure in LA in June. We talked through lots of options, but have landed on a week in Santa Monica. Even though I’m from CA, when you live in Orange County, you tend to stay in Orange County, so the LA adventuring will be new to us both. We’re staying at The Shore Hotel which totes itself as being green and sustainable. How very LA. They’ve already offered me a $10 credit if I don’t get housekeeping every day. They’re basically paying me $10/day to pick up my own towels and make the bed. That works for me.

I read a lot, too. Right now, I’m reading The Circle. It’s terrifying. Makes me want to cancel all my social media and hide. But then how would I see adorable cat videos? You see my problem. Oh, also, teenagers told me the movie is awful but the book is good. I trust teenagers.

Scotty and I spend a good amount of time together when he’s free. Lots of long walks. 28 years of marriage and I never remember us having this kind of uninterrupted time. Well, maybe when waiting in an emergency room for a kid who had broken or torn something to be seen by the doctor, but that doesn’t count. Oh, and sometimes we visit obscure places like antique train stores and then I find treasures like Kermit the Frog who now lives here. I love him.

As far as figuring out what I want to do with my life, I’m still not getting much clarity there. But I’m not in a rush. I’m thinking of trying to write fiction but boy does that seem like something that would be an awkward embarrassment if I were terrible at it. It only took me 3 tries to spell embarrassment. My spelling is improving. Oh, and I’m attending the Evolving Faith Conference in October. My mom reads my blog and I promise she just looked it up and is now getting ready to call me very, very concerned.

So, bottom line, I have given myself over to the new rhythm. One of my sons said to me today, as I was sitting on the deck, sun hat on my head, sipping my seltzer and reading my book, “Mom, you’re living right, you know that?”

Yes, Son, I am.