This was a day

Driving home on the interstate in full, late afternoon, Spring sunshine (read: warm), it struck me that THIS DAY, THIS VERY DAY was likely what I had in mind all of ten years ago when I was fumbling my way out of college without thinking too dang hard about anything pertaining to the future other than "I need a job, but that won't be too hard."  Oh, the arrogance of youth.  Oh, the blissful state of naivete and ignorance.

In actuality, I know that all I had first and foremost on my mind that day in May pertaining to the f-word was a) get married and b) get through the summer because you don't really have to have a job in place until August.  Such is the life of two teachers.  There are two calendars running simultaneously in your mind: the ongoing calendar year and the rise and fall of the school year. 

During the ensuing decade, not much has gone as scripted.  I've written about it before frequently, but here's my twist.  Today was the type of day that I would have envisioned for myself at 32. 

Saturday: wake up at 7:20 a.m.  Meet two friends for breakfast and chatter.  Mutz about the house for two hours doing all that is lunch and dibbling bits of email correspondence.  Watch baseball while doing so.  Take off after lunch to drive to niece's birthday party for the afternoon (1+ hours each way) just because you can.  Stop for coffee at a new place you've been meaning to try because warm afternoon and comfortable belly = sleepy, and delight the daughter with a mango smoothie.  Go roller skating (or roller hobbling-around-the-carpeted-area-which-isn't-as-slippery-as-the-shined-wood-floor).  Laugh with 5-year old daughter, who was really digging her first roller skating experience.  Visit with the family.  Hit up another coffee place for freshly ground blueberry cinnamon crisp (decaf) and more coffee (also decaf).  Drive home with little traffic to worry about, a happy kid lulled with an audiobook, and not a single complaint along the way.  Thrown together supper eaten with the kid on the porch in the last bits of the warm sunlight.

This was a day that I would have been perfectly content to know was in my future 10 years ago.