Microdosing *time* with friends

Good morning, DMV. It’s Thursday, Oct. 8.

These days, we wake to a chill in the air. I know temperatures may still climb again, but it does feel like fall.

Last week, I flipped my wardrobe, dropping my light summer cottons to the bottom of my clothes storage chest and pulling my warmer pajamas, wool sweaters and base layers to the top.

Outside, the crickets still chirp, but the morning bird calls are fewer and fewer. Just the crows, bluejays and occasional catbirds. (I’m sure there are others, but I’m not an expert in identifying birdsong.)

The oaks are dropping their acorns — so many falling onto streets, pulverized by passing cars into a dusty meal, their caps abandoned. The crushed acorns make me sad — they never had a chance, did they? My husband looks on the bright side: maybe the squirrels are happy they don’t need to work as hard to eat.

Time seemed to pass quickly this year. This past month we finally got to have the meetups and dinner dates that we’d put off because of summer travels.

After a recent dinner with friends in the neighborhood, our host, Kristina Grear, told me she’s worried about the coming winter and needs more friend time.

“We really need to get together more frequently than every 3-4 months!” she told me in a chat. “I have a new plan to micro-dose time with friends in the in-between times. Low-pressure occasions, squeezed in around the edges, because that is the only time available.”

I skimmed her messages, and when I saw microdose, I mistakenly thought she was talking about mild intoxication. Hm, I’m not really into that. Then she clarified — though she shouldn’t have had to if I’d simply slowed down and read what she wrote.

“I was not talking about drugs … I was talking about hanging out with friends in small doses,” she said.

Ah, yes! Excellent idea. Too often, in our heads, we make too big of a fuss over friend dates, so months go by.

Kristina explained: “My hypothesis on microdosing hanging out with friends is this: everyone says they want to spend more time with their friends, but no one has time, so we put it off and put it off waiting for all the right conditions (a clean house, the ability to plan a dinner, time to squeeze in hours of time, etc). But with low pressure, microdoses of friendship, we can mitigate all of this. We squeeze time in — say 30 min on a weeknight or while multitasking something else. We keep expectations real low — the house could be a mess or there may be no food to eat. Whatever.”

Let’s do it.

Our days are getting shorter. When our clocks fall back on Nov. 1, the sun sets around 5 p.m.

Microdose time with friends. Low-key. Zero lift. No need to cook. Maybe just a cup of tea or a glass of water. Perhaps a chat on the front doorstep or at the outdoor tables in the town square.

Easy time with friends and neighbors to feel a little less lonely and keep the winter blues at bay.

Dear readers: I consider my Daily Dose a community gratitude journal. It’s free, and I work on it solo, spending hours each day mining for story ideas, interviewing and exploring. Please consider supporting my work with a monthly or yearly donation to help make this project sustainable. Do you know anyone who would enjoy reading me? Forward this to them to help me grow. For newcomers: To subscribe, click here. And to those who already support me: I appreciate you.

Capital Weather says it’s another fall stunner today, with sunny skies, a breeze and highs well into the 70s. Read the full forecast here.

D.C. resident Pat Remick, 74, captured this image last week in Shenandoah National Park.

“Sometimes we forget how relatively close this magnificent park is to DC and how restorative a visit to it can be,” Pat wrote in her submission.

“I wish I could figure out a way to fully capture the sensation of clean, fresh mountain air in a photograph, too.”

Share your photos of fall comfort and joy in the DMV.

🫖