Saturday morning. Nothing special about it.
We did what we always do, made coffee, toasted bread, spread peanut butter first, then added strawberry jam on top. Peanut butter alone was too bland. Strawberry jam by itself was too sweet. But together? Perfect balance.
My wife and I both liked it that way. We never talked about it, just naturally did the same thing. Like an old song we both knew by heart—same rhythm, same harmony.
We bit our toast. The bread was crispy, the jam melted smooth in our mouths. The coffee still had that fresh-brewed warmth to it.
I started telling her about my Chicago trip. Nothing dramatic happened, just the usual work stuff. Who said what, what I saw at the airport, which restaurant had decent food. Random details, really.
The point wasn’t the content. It was just the telling. Sometimes talking is its own purpose.
The conversation drifted naturally. From my wife’s therapy sessions to our daughter’s counseling appointments to what our son had been up to all week. Words tangled together, then separated, then settled into quiet spaces.
But one thing my wife said stuck with me.
“I’m trying to find solutions now, not just the right answers.”
That phrase landed in my head like jam on bread. Slowly soaking in.
Right answers are what you find on tests. Someone else’s predetermined path. But solutions? Those are different. You can mess up, take detours, go slow. Maybe solutions are just… ways of living.
We’ve been through a lot of stuff. Some things we laughed off. Others still wake me up at 3 AM sometimes. All of it brought us here, to this kitchen table, spreading peanut butter and jam while drinking coffee on a Saturday morning.
Life keeps asking, “How are you supposed to do this?” But maybe sometimes the answer is just… pause. Stay put for a while. Figure it out as you go.
I finished eating and rinsed the knife in the sink. Soap bubbles formed, catching tiny rainbows in the light.
My wife’s words came back to me: “Solutions, not just right answers.”
Nobody has to hand us a manual.
Maybe we’re already finding our way. One small choice at a time. Like deciding how to make toast exactly the way we want it.
-TK
