Tending Days

I first realized that there was a description for my actions when I read The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Rothfuss. I don’t believe I’ve ever related so closely with a character as I did to Auri. I soaked in her story as she went about the Underthing and tended to it. She listened to rooms, put them together, and placed items where and how they needed to be. I’d never read about anyone else doing this and was validated by this entire book. It was also a good sign that I’d found the right man to marry when I recommended the book to my now-husband. His first response was, “So you’re basically Auri, right?” He saw me at that moment and I reveled in being fully myself with someone. I don't talk about my connection to plants and items much but I have, at length, with him and he has always nodded, accepting and respecting this urge of mine.

Today is a tending day where I tend to the needs of things around the house. Some of these things are typical, routine. Picking up objects that have gotten scattered around the house and putting them in their place, spot washing fingerprints off walls, mending items. Other parts are more unusual.

Today, the bones that have been washed but not organized well asked to be better cared for. I took the time to slow down, create compartments for them, and place them gently and perfectly in their places. I organized the children’s books into better categories, sorting the character books together, the discovery books together, the books on growth together. I hung new shelves in my bathroom and removed the old ones. I minimized the decorations, shifted plants to new locations where lighting would be better, and created a more authentic display of self. I deemed the anthuriums were ready to be separated and repotted the babies into new pots.

Tonight my home is at rest. It has been tended and the balance in it has been restored.