An ordinary day together can be worth protecting without waiting for distance to explain its value.

Ordinary time usually gets its value assigned later, once someone has moved away and there is nothing to do but remember. Distance is a good teacher and an expensive one. The strange part is that nothing about the day itself changes; only your willingness to notice it does. A Tuesday evening can be worth defending while it is still just a Tuesday evening.

Pick one recurring, unremarkable hour with someone you love and treat it as an appointment rather than a leftover. Keep it when something more interesting appears. That is most of what protecting it means.