A Good Day

Today was one of those days. Well, not exactly one of THOSE days. It was a good day, a really good day.

For starters, it was Friday, which in a world where you are a teacher with young kids, is a good day in and of itself. It's a day with no homework, practices or lessons after school. A stress-free night makes it a good day.

After the kids went to school, I got to go shopping for Nelson's birthday gift in a store I have never been in. I don't know if it was the classical music playing in the background or the fact that they wrapped the gift so beautifully or just knowing that I was about to make my husband a happy man, but I felt good walking out of that place.

From there I popped into a local "luxury" grocery store (which also had the classical music going). I was searching for a few things to round out the surprise birthday dinner I was planning for Nelson. I scored some white asparagus that we haven't had since our trip to Germany nine years ago. They also had strawberries on sale that were almost as big as my hand. Those two things plus some sundried tomato focaccia and an appetizer of sushi had me leaving the store feeling a bit giddy thinking of how much Nelson was going to love this food.

At school they had a special lunch to honor the teachers and it was delicious. I got to teach a real art lesson that involved more than just a simple craft project. It was fun.

After school I spent my time preparing the evening's meal. Turns out covering giant strawberries with chocolate is kind of fun too. The weather was gorgeous so I swept off the porch and fired up the grill. The kids were playing in the yard, Nelson threw the steaks on the grill and my brother came over to join us.


It was too beautiful to eat our meal inside so I sent the boys in to grab a blanket and some trays. "Steak, blue cheese AND a picnic? YES!!!" was Aiden's response.

So there we were. Good food and family just enjoying it all...together. It was so simple but so beautiful. It was the perfect ending to a great day and that's worth noting.