Several years ago I drove over to visit my Cousin John in Gloucester, Virginia one Friday after work. His sister Marianne was here from Florida also visiting with him.
When I arrived there right around 6 o'clock, John informed me that the plan was for all of us to go out to dinner and that he had made dinner reservations for 6:30. I said something to John about him taking a chance that I would be so punctual because sometimes I would make stops along the way to Gloucester. John laughed and said "Oh no, J. Scott, I knew you'd be here by 6 because you are you are always here by 6. You are such a creature of habit that you don't even know that you are a creature of habit. "
In an ironic way, John's assessment of my behavior became sort of a personal revelation to me in that I had not previously considered myself as such. I had always thought of myself as a freewheeling, spur of the moment kinda guy, John's comment forced me to think otherwise. It was then that I realized that I really do like what I call my routines or my habits if you will.
As Boswell writes however, all this C-word-related down time has presented us with a good opportunity to see if there aren't some habits in our lives that we may want to adjust or fix. For instance, after I finish relating the following, I am going to work on my habit of telling awful jokes: A man asked his priest if he could take Sister Mary out on a date. The priest told him it was ok to do so as long as he didn't get in the habit. Ba-dum!
This song from the remake of the movie Alfie came to mind.
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