my perfect day

Okay, are we talking "Perfect Day" like in my fantasies? Like spending the morning with George Clooney, the afternoon with Johnny Depp, and the evening with...my husband? Like eating chocolate croissants for breakfast, s'mores for lunch, and chocolate souffle for dinner?

How about a day where I'd see the sunrise without having to get up early, write ten perfect pages without effort, play with my kids without having to worry about the housework, and then go out to a five-star restaurant for dinner without worrying about calories (or the bill)?

No? You want reality?

Well, then. I'll tell you about some perfect moments I've had, and if I put them all together, I'd have the perfect day...

Sunrise on the morning I gave birth to my first child. I was holding her in my arms as I watched it through the hospital window.

Breakfast on the first mother's day my children were old enough to serve me breakfast in bed. Burnt toast, two strawberries (each with a bite taken out of them), and a mug of lukewarm tea.

The morning I walked into a bookstore and saw my first book on the shelves, for the very first time. I cried.

A picnic lunch in the backyard on a perfect spring day, sitting beneath a blooming spice bush. The sunlight shone in my daughter's hair, and she was looking at me like I was the best thing on Earth.

A summer afternoon writing on the back porch, listening to the sounds of birds and lawnmowers and children laughing.

The dinner when my husband proposed to me.

Prom night in tenth grade, when I was all dressed up and the music was playing, and my friends were all there, and I finally believed my mother when she said it would never get any better than that.

Watching the town fireworks with my husband and kids, leaning back on a blanket, the grass tickling my ankles as colors exploded above our heads.

If I could put all of those things together, that would be my perfect day. Although an afternoon with Johnny Depp wouldn't suck.

Donna Birdsell