Almost every morning between 8:30am and 10:00am a small group of us find each other through texts, gather, and then walk a few minutes across the fountain plaza of Temple Square. To the left of us is a wonderfully beautiful water fountain, exactly to the right is the magnificent Salt Lake Temple. We soak in our surroundings.... unlike any other location. A quick reminder of why we work there every day. We cross the street, walk into the pharmacy and get a soda refill. It was .95 cents, now it's a buck. Sometimes if the stomach is speaking too much, we add a donut or cheese stick. We spend about 3 minutes talking, pay, then walk the short walk back.
We walk in the building, wish each other a good day and part ways to our offices. We call it the soda run.....and we are the soda patrol. How long have we done it you ask? Hmmm..... can't remember when we haven't. So, 6 going on 7 years now. The patrol for sure has changed color and hue over the years, some have moved on, new ones join up. Despite the changes in personnel, the rhythm has never changed. You can almost count on it. We now can "feel" the texts before they even come... do we even need the reminder anymore? No, but we do it anyway....it is part of the flow. It is alot like gravity... as if we were a tide on the ocean... we are coming into the beach no matter what....one wave after another, reaching as high on the sand as possible, only to retreat back into the cold deep to wait for the next surge.
On one hand, the whole thing is almost not even worth mentioning, so small and seemingly insignificant. Who cares about a daily soda run? What can be so noteworthy about a 10min mundane daily routine? Truly it is almost nothing......
Yet I find it so pleasantly fascinating......
There are days when things do happen and the patrol doesn't make the run..... sickness, offsites, or meetings get in the way at times. When this occurs an odd thing that happens.... the world just isn't quite right. Like walking with a limp......our equilibrium isn't quite there..... Something is missing, an absence, yes, even a void. We have all even talked about how we all feel that same oddness... so weird and cool at the same time.
It got me thinking about the other patterns and rhythms in our lives. We find meaning in routine. We need patterns to guide us each day. One of my most favorite things about growing up overseas was observing how women would do their daily "soda run" to the market. They would stop and get fresh bread at the bakery, wander through the fruit and vegetable stands, looking, sifting, weighing occasionally popping a sample in their mouths before selecting. What I noticed was that what was really going on was that they were making human connections with people all through this routine. It wasn't really about the bread, fish and potatoes... it was the catching up on the local gossip, the checking in on acquaintances, talking local politics etc.... It was very much about connecting on a human and emotional level. The marketplace just happened to be the perfect means to a beautiful end. It wasn't the destination, it provided a most excellent journey. Each routine was like a wave lapping up on the beach, soaking into the sand, then ultimately returning home until the next tidal pull, or bottle of milk was empty.
PS: I think we Americans have in our efforts to be "efficient" and "cost conscious" missed out on this particular pattern and rhythm. We go to Costco and load up for a month. We don't talk to anyone, hardly interact at all.....Instead of a journey, it has transformed into a task, with the end in mind being: shop fast, get out and get home quickly with as little interaction as possible.
Ahh! What a missed opportunity...... Routines like these small town market wandering ones are so important as they are a microcosmic metaphor of life's larger routines. We all have our own "soda runs" that bring meaning to our lives. The Sunday morning paper and coffee ..... Saturday soccer games. Some we have to do, but it is the ones that we purposefully manufacture that are the most sweet. We secretly cherish them and from these ones we learn the most....
I love that our little soda patrol is so simple but so important. I love that it brings those small moments of interaction, connection, caring about one another, not the soda. (Although that isn't so bad!) We need to bond with others at all levels in our lives. At least I believe that and that is the collection of all these small routines and rhythms with people that bring great meaning to us. You know how you get the little sense of excitement in your tummy when you know you get to go on your version of your "soda run"? I know you do! It is amazing no? Does it seem to you that it is these small little "waves" that keep us going? I love that life allows for these. We can create them, live them and make the most of them if we have eyes to see. I wonder how many times we don't really see them for what they are: little life lessons.
I know the really important routines are those that we have with family and those that we have with God. Ultimately all others are subordinate to these. So, although my little soda run might seem a little small, the people I do it with are not. They remind me of what is most important and I will always be grateful they found 10 minutes to share with me......
I would love to peek in on yours....Come peek on mine... every morning about 8:30am.
