A Good Day

Defining what constitutes a good day isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Sometimes, just getting up in time to keep the dogs from peeing in the basement constitutes a good day. Other times, no matter how much gets done, no matter how many nice smiles or surprises the day holds, it just doesn’t qualify. The tenor is wrong, the melody keeps going flat, or the deep notes just overwhelm the balance. Not so today.

Today was a good day. Solid. Reasonable without being brilliant. Satisfying without being worrisome and without “raising the bar” for other days in the near future.

The Contents. I woke up at the first sound of the alarm, let the dogs out, and then went back to bed for a lovely doze in the cool fresh-morning air. Twittering birds and deep breathes of pollen filled air brought peace rather than hacking coughs. Gotta love the wonders of modern chemistry. [snicker].

I chatted with friends. I ran errands and managed to make all my bus connections. I knit and inch or so on the back of the camisole and sorted my yarn bag, and picked up the mail. I got to the post office and compared prices on phones and on microphone-headsets for the computer. I’ll now be able to talk to friends on skype – a free way to chat via the internet.

I ran into several people I know from having worked at a local department store last year, and I bought a new hat. While I longed for the pistachio colored number that evoked Audrey Hepburn and photo shoots in Paris and Rome, I couldn’t see dropping forty-three bucks on a hat that might get swept away in the breeze as a bus pulls up to let me on; I don’t look anything like Hepburn anyway. So I was content with my straw planter’s hat with the darker cream band, and had a friend spray it with lisle while we chatted so I could wear it the rest of the day!

I ate well, enjoyed a green-tea frappuccino while reading about the English Civil Wars, and helped some ladies find the quilting books in the craft section of the bookstore. I chatted with a former nurse on the bus, and with a gentleman from New York at the last bus stop of the day – and as I tapped my way down the sidewalk after getting off at my stop, I saw him waving to me through the window. He’d enjoyed passing the time with someone who’d visited NY and found the people friendly.

On the way home, I picked up my packages and found a taped copy of “O” magazine to read and my new copies of Inspired Cable Knits and Mason-Dixon Knitting waiting for me. My phone is set up, my dogs are fed, and I’ve enough energy to enjoy my cup of decaf-coffee and wind down for the night.

As I come to the close of this entry, and look forward to the imminent enjoyment of coffee, knitting, and an audio book, a faintly remembered feeling rolls through me. Soft. Quiet. Like the glow from an oil lamp.

It is peace. All I am required to do is smile.