The best day

A rainy chill has come in the middle of the night. It’s not overly cold, but still cold enough and it’s one of those mornings when you run quickly to the bathroom to do your business and then back again to get back under the warm covers. The sheets and comforter on the bed are rumpled mess, but I don’t pay them much attention.

It’s been a busy week so my wife and I sleep in and rest. We let the morning pass without must fuss. We wake occasionally, check in on friends on Facebook and Instagram, and maybe read the news, and then fall back asleep without a care in the world. When we finally get up, we grab coffee and chat over breakfast.

I realize in the slow ticking of the morning that it’s the kind of morning that would have been out of our grasp when we had little ones under foot. In those days, we would be up at the crack of dawn to take one kid or another to some practice or game or even just to tend to everyone’s breakfast needs. We’d be running most of the day. We’d probably get Sunday to ourselves, but usually we were trying to get to mass and then play catch-up, cleaning up the house, folding laundry, mapping out meals for the week. We wouldn’t be done until well into Sunday night and then we’d need to get ready for Monday morning and everything to start again.

Oh, we’re past that now. We’re in a different stage of our life.

Instead, we take our coffees into our living room and binge a few hours of the latest hot series streaming on Netflix or Amazon Prime or one of the other streaming services. When we’ve had our fill, my wife grabs a book and I pull out my laptop and start to work on my latest blog.

A bit later in the afternoon, we fall asleep on the couch for an another nap. We’re determined to make the most of our rest. When we wake, we decide to run to our favorite local spot for an informal Italian restaurant. The place is nothing fancy, but it will do. When we’re served, no one thinks to bother us, we’re too deep in our conversation.

As I think on my day, I can’t help but think about singer Taylor Swift looking back on her life and writing about her mom and dad in her 2008 song “The Best Day.” Swift remains a Pop Culture icon. My Best Day is quite a bit different than hers. I think of hanging out with my wife at the beach, mountains, or even just on our couch on a lazy Sunday.

Like Taylor, however, it’s not about the day itself, it’s about the people I get to spend the time together with and it’s always a good day when I get to hang with my wife. Throw in my grown kids and you have as perfect as a day can get. (I hope to have one of these days very soon! Is it possible to call a man in his mid-50s giddy?)

Anyway, I guess I’ll steal from Swift’s writing one more time, by thanking my wife and saying  “That I had the best day with you today.”

Image by Anthony via Pexels.