The long way home

Tonight I took the long way home. There’s a shorter route — fewer streets, fewer lights — but I turned the other way without really deciding to.

The evening was warm in that soft, forgiving way, and the shops were closing up. Someone was practising piano through an open window, the same four bars over and over, getting them slightly wrong each time and not minding at all.

I think I’ve been rushing through too much lately, treating the space between places as something to get past. But the walk was the best part of my day. I want to remember that the slow way is sometimes the whole point.