A Good Day

What constitutes a good day for you?

It seems that the year is rushing through already and by the time I blink on Monday, it’s Friday.  Jobs haven’t been done, items haven’t been attained, goals haven’t been met, passions haven’t been pursued to complete satisfaction.  Yet according to a text I just received and a feeling I have, today is a good day.

Why?

When I was younger, a good day was made up of swims in a crystal clear, unpolluted beach, a nice hot serve of fish and chips for dinner, a little bit of a tan, a win of a favourite tennis player or footy team.  A good day included smiles, chats with friends, nice exchanges with parents, compatible activities with siblings, a sit down with a good book and (maybe) a soft drink like fanta.

A good day involved simple fun.  Board games (not bored) playing with pets, riding a bike up the court, throwing a netball with a friend.  I’ll never forget being on a 2-week holiday when I was about 14 and a letter arriving from a school bud.  I opened it and laughed about the time she was having back at home.

Earlier in the week, Sarah text me that she had found a stack of old photos in the bottom of a desk she was cleaning out.  She used the words ‘life was so much simpler then, wasn’t it?’  She posted some pics in her Facebook and (apart from showing big hair) they beam smiles, togetherness, lack of responsibilities.  If you put a couple of the photos to your ear, I imagine you’d hear laughter and the ability to breathe easily, relaxed attitudes, the sheer joy of living in the moment.

A good day had a simple frame surrounding a picture of faded, beloved 80s abandonment.

What counts as a good day in 2011?  Perhaps similar things for the same age groups, or are we so production-driven and consumed with achievement that our kids feel the rush-agitation too?  We hope not, but children are perceptive and sometimes our masks are so thinly applied.

Wherever you be, I hope one day this weekend (or one day this week — perhaps today?) can be weighted as good. That the positives outnumber the negatives, that there’s pleasure in a packet of corn chips or a glass of red, a sleep in, some YouTubing in bed, the pruning of some fruit trees.  A walk in the park (without a time limit) the feel of sand on your toes, the watching of a good, old weepy movie.  Just because.

Then, when you finally paint that masterpiece or run that 10km and finish in the top 3, or rejoice when a doctor tells you the procedure went well, you’ll be used to getting the good news.  You’ll take it in your stride.  Whether it be saving a computer from meltdown, organizing a successful school, harvesting some eggs, finishing new clothes for a market, securing a corporate event to oversee, starting a new career, publishing a novel,   … a good day is already part of your renovated furniture.

For us?  Our day started with some positive news, lunched with some good family news and by the afternoon, someone text me with the words ‘yes.  It’s been a good day’.  We will choose to end it with simplicity:  a bowl of comfort pasta, a family movie, feet on the couch and a glass of red — for Pip and Pop — Fanta for me.

A reminder of when ‘life was so much simpler then’.