An ordinary Tuesday contains more of a life than an occasional grand announcement.

Lives are mostly made of the days that do not get announced. The weddings, the promotions and the moves are a handful of hours across decades, while the actual substance is breakfast, the walk to the bus, the same conversation with the same person at the same hour. Summaries favour the announcements because they are easy to list, which makes them a poor description of what living has felt like.

Pay attention to an unremarkable day this week as though it were the important one. Note what you ate, who you spoke to, what the light did. That is the material almost all of it is made from.