Walking with Annelie is coffee indoors today. We’ve told each other we need to go on more walks. She asks if we should dress warmly for the cold, wet park, or if we should just grab a table inside. Normally at this hour, Coffee Company is packed to the brim with digital nomads, so “dress for cold, hope for warmth” I say. Miraculously, there are two tables from which we can choose.

January flew, flew by, I tell you. We started with “wow, 2023 already, let’s have a chill time this year, hey what’s on Netflix?” and at the time of writing everything is different:

There’s a woman who runs a bookshop in De Bijlmer. She has kind eyes that make you want to curl up with a book and a cup of tea. Often when I’m there, she offers just that: tea, and a place to quiet down and dive into an interesting title. She’s running a fine business over there, Cole Verhoeven is.

My attempt to lure both Anja and myself outside for some fresh air and a walk was thwarted as soon as I learned the place was out of my favorite bubble tea. We strolled to Flevopark, in my hand an ice cream cone, and on my face the disappointment of a toddler who can’t be satisfied.

We had two friends over today. They’re dear to me specifically because we got to know each other intimately during our eating disorder recovery. We promised we’d one day get together and watch Love Actually, much-beloved by each of us.

On occasion, Anja will compliment me on my ability to recognize people. I don’t know when I first noticed it myself, but there are actors I recognize even if they played minor characters in an episode of a show I watched 15 years ago. Or I might point out that woman I saw on the bus before COVID hit to a confused Anja.

I’m in that supremely annoying stage of prospective dog ownership where I casually interrogate dog owners at parties, curious about their pet’s behavior and the techniques employed, and then silently judge them for their mistakes, exchanging contemptuous glances with Anja in the process.