I haven't been a routine gal for many years, not since I retired from the food industry. To run a food business, routine is EVERYTHING. The entire staff has to work together like the innards of a clock lest the customer not get his everything bagel at 8:12 am in time to catch the 8:20 train to HIS routine-dependent job. I found routine easy back when my job was everything, and I had little time for much else.
But then I had children, and routine became both more important and more difficult to achieve.
Now as a retiree with adult children (mostly), I can mess around on steem for one hour or five, I can get up at 7am or sleep until noon. I can eat when I am hungry and go for spontaneous walks.
I'm loving the lack of routine now that I no longer have to be so productive.
I appreciate your comments and slant on how routine can be the bones of a good relationship, the day to day moments and understandings between each other can be very supportive, and the routines of home comforting.