July 23, 2024

My dearest,

This is a ritual: coffee, eggs, oats.

We wake up, brush our teeth, open the windows. Go for a walk, look out for the family of patridges we have given names (“Patricia and P1, P2, P3”). We discovered today that they could, in fact, fly.

Then after we get home, after we water the plants in our garden, after we have showered, our breakfast ritual begins.

I will brew coffee for us, pour over style with the wooden dripper we bought in Kyoto a few months ago. You will cook eggs – perfectly half boiled for you and soft boiled for me. Maggi seasoning and ground white pepper for you; I add fish sauce, black pepper and chilli oil to mine.

We will sit down and eat, and then I will make us our second breakfast: overnight oats and chia seeds, Greek yoghurt and a few drops of coconut cream. You add muesli and peanut butter to yours; I add creatine, cinnamon and protein powder. Fruits sometimes: blueberries or lychees, when they are in season.

This is cycle, a season in miniature that repeats every morning.

Coffee, eggs, oats. It is a season of you and me.

Yours, ever and always.