I touched a brick wall today on the way back from getting coffee. I don't know why - I just reached out and ran my fingers across it. The texture was more surprising than it should have been. Rough, uneven, with small bits of grit and one edge of mortar that was sharper than expected. I stood there touching it for longer than was probably normal, trying to understand why it felt so remarkable. It's a brick wall. I have touched brick walls my whole life.

I think the problem is that most of what I touch in a day is smooth and warm and identical. The phone. The keyboard. The same glass every morning. My hands have recalibrated to a very narrow range of texture. The rough cold unevenness of a brick wall is now the kind of thing that stops me on the street. The ordinary world keeps catching me off guard with how much it is. Is there something you touched recently that surprised you? What does your average day feel like, literally, in the hands?