Best Day Ever?
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REWahoo
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Tomorrow, I hope...
Meadbh
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This is the day that popped into my head:
September 1980. I was 23, and a neurosurgical intern on a grueling 1 in 2 call schedule. That meant I worked every weekday, every other night, and every other weekend. On my free weekend my Dad and I drove to a very pretty golf course about 20 miles away and played 18 holes in beautiful September sunshine. Then we drove to the closest town, http://kinsale.ie , which is both a historic and a gourmet centre, and ate a wonderful seafood dinner. We arrived home tired and happy. The memory of that glorious day kept me going through many difficult days and nights in the weeks ahead.
September 1980. I was 23, and a neurosurgical intern on a grueling 1 in 2 call schedule. That meant I worked every weekday, every other night, and every other weekend. On my free weekend my Dad and I drove to a very pretty golf course about 20 miles away and played 18 holes in beautiful September sunshine. Then we drove to the closest town, http://kinsale.ie , which is both a historic and a gourmet centre, and ate a wonderful seafood dinner. We arrived home tired and happy. The memory of that glorious day kept me going through many difficult days and nights in the weeks ahead.
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truenorth418
Full time employment: Posting here.
It's tough to decide on the absolute best day, but I will say Fri Sept 30, 2011, the day I walked out of MegaCorp HQ for the last time and officially began my early retirement, was one of the best days of my life.
haha
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I have 2, way ahead of all others.
The days my two sons were born. Prior to this I felt like a was only apprenticing to life.
Ha
The days my two sons were born. Prior to this I felt like a was only apprenticing to life.
Ha
Tough choice!!
I would say Monday, September 17, 1973, the first day I started work after leaving home. I grew up in a small mining town and no one in my extended family had ever graduated High School let alone gone to university. We never had a car or telephone, no inside bathroom until I was 14, and I knew almost nothing about the world outside my County. On Saturday 15th of that month my parents saw me off on the train to a new life, with a rucksack on my back and a suitcase containing everything I owned. I had earned a place at University with an apprenticeship from a big company, 6 months working, 6 months at university. I arrived at my lodgings, a single room "bedsit" on the Saturday night, and Monday morning walked about 3 miles into my new place of work where I met up with 12 other new student apprentices.
It was a magical day and I made some lifelong friends, as well as met my future wife. (we became friends and started dating about 9 months later)
I would say Monday, September 17, 1973, the first day I started work after leaving home. I grew up in a small mining town and no one in my extended family had ever graduated High School let alone gone to university. We never had a car or telephone, no inside bathroom until I was 14, and I knew almost nothing about the world outside my County. On Saturday 15th of that month my parents saw me off on the train to a new life, with a rucksack on my back and a suitcase containing everything I owned. I had earned a place at University with an apprenticeship from a big company, 6 months working, 6 months at university. I arrived at my lodgings, a single room "bedsit" on the Saturday night, and Monday morning walked about 3 miles into my new place of work where I met up with 12 other new student apprentices.
It was a magical day and I made some lifelong friends, as well as met my future wife. (we became friends and started dating about 9 months later)
steelyman
Moderator Emeritus
This isn't really "best day ever" material, but a great family day. It's related to that "Dad" thread. That Cubs/Cards game happened on my birthday, and they put my name up on the scoreboard. I got a photo (no, I won't post) and the best part is you can see Andre Dawson looking up at the board.
The Hawk!!
The Hawk!!
robnplunder
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
The day I left home for good, off to college in summer, 1980. It was like getting out of jail, away from despot (father who was drunk half the time, abusive, and narcissistic), into freedom. Never looked back or went back. Had I stayed, I would either ended up in jail, in mental institution, or dead. Took 20 more years for nightmares to stop, and a few more years to be truly happy.
Dash man
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
My wife's birthday in 2004 when the doctor came out of her surgery and said "It's ovarian cancer, but I think we got it all." Ten years later she's still going strong and free of that awful disease because we caught it early enough and that surgeon took such wonderful care with her. I've cherished every day with her since knowing how close I came to losing her.
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Don't know the exact date, but in 1977 when DS was about 14 months, he was diagnosed with retina-blastoma. No other possibilities. Wheeled him in to OR to remove eye and test for spread of the tumor. After a very short time were told that it wasn't that, what they saw was detached retina from Coates disease (genetic malformation of capillaries in retina; rarely shows up in second eye). Never imagined how elated we would be upon being told our son was blind in one eye and had been from birth! Retelling the story still brings tears to my eye. This was preceded by a week's wait in which we did all sorts of research (pre internet) and were collecting whatever assets we could sell to send him anywhere we could. As it turns out, never having sight in that eye, he was perfectly able to play tennis, baseball, and other competitive sports.
Good to retell this. Reminds me of all we have to be thankful for.
Good to retell this. Reminds me of all we have to be thankful for.
pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
That is a tough one. Probably the day we were married - beautiful day and everything went off without a hitch with lots of friends and family present. I had no idea how lucky I was at the time.
Another really good day was a day bass fishing with my Dad and my son. Three generations having a great day together out on the water (and a smidgen of fishing trash-talk too).
Difficult to pin down the best day, but one sure comes to mind...
My family was never the outdoors type, and I grew up in the South, but as I kid I always longed for the mountains and the West.
My first vacation on my own, after I'd moved away from home, was to Yellowstone National Park. I'd never been to a national park before, nor any of the Rocky Mountain states. I flew into Billings, Montana, whose airport sits on top of a bluff. The arrival was awe inspiring.
I rented my car, a little 3-cylinder Daihatsu Charade. I'll never forget that. A little 3-cylinder car trying to make it over Montana mountains. I had it floored, and it was barely moving.
As I drove west from Billings to Bozeman on I-90, it's like the whole world opened up. Words can't describe it. I could see why they call Montana "Big Sky Country". The open land, blue sky, clouds, the mountains in the distance. That drive, and visiting the park later, literally changed my life.
I moved to Denver sight unseen a few months later because of that trip, which started my love affair with the Rocky Mountain west. It's one of the reasons I want to so desperately move back there for at least a couple years when I quit in about another year.
There's a bit of my soul I left in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado when I left, and I need to go get it back and do those trips again.
My family was never the outdoors type, and I grew up in the South, but as I kid I always longed for the mountains and the West.
My first vacation on my own, after I'd moved away from home, was to Yellowstone National Park. I'd never been to a national park before, nor any of the Rocky Mountain states. I flew into Billings, Montana, whose airport sits on top of a bluff. The arrival was awe inspiring.
I rented my car, a little 3-cylinder Daihatsu Charade. I'll never forget that. A little 3-cylinder car trying to make it over Montana mountains. I had it floored, and it was barely moving.
As I drove west from Billings to Bozeman on I-90, it's like the whole world opened up. Words can't describe it. I could see why they call Montana "Big Sky Country". The open land, blue sky, clouds, the mountains in the distance. That drive, and visiting the park later, literally changed my life.
I moved to Denver sight unseen a few months later because of that trip, which started my love affair with the Rocky Mountain west. It's one of the reasons I want to so desperately move back there for at least a couple years when I quit in about another year.
There's a bit of my soul I left in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado when I left, and I need to go get it back and do those trips again.
It was an ordinary day in the spring of 1987. My sons were 5 months old and almost 3 years old and we took a late morning walk up to the bank at the shopping center. I had the baby in the stroller and my older son rode his tricycle. It was warm enough for light jackets. It was sunny and the birds were chirping and both kids were happy to be out for an errand. The baby cooed and babbled and his brother talked about anything and everything all the way up to the bank.
Nobody got cranky or loaded up a diaper or needed a bathroom stop (older son was succeeding at toilet training) and I remember thinking that this was exactly what I always wanted, which was to just be a Mom at home with my kids, having the time to take walks and enjoy a lovely spring day with my boys.
Coming in second may be the day that DH and I drove to the state capitol to meet with the pension system retirement counselor. DH had lost his job the previous month and we were seriously considering him retiring when he hit 55 in 2 months. The pension system had a very good website and all the calculations looked good but I wanted to make sure that we were accurate on the amount of reduction based on 100% to surviving spouse. We had all our questions prepared and the counselor gave us the final number for 100% to surviving spouse option and clarified the health care insurance options (vastly changed since then).
On the way home I double checked our budget numbers and the now officially verified pension estimates and we seriously talked about the option of retiring. As we talked it all started to sound better and better. He had a job interview coming up and we realized that if it didn't work out, he really could retire. We wouldn't starve, we wouldn't even have to make drastic changes. I could see the weight come off of his shoulders and the worry lines in his face relax. By the time we got home we both knew we'd be just fine!
Nobody got cranky or loaded up a diaper or needed a bathroom stop (older son was succeeding at toilet training) and I remember thinking that this was exactly what I always wanted, which was to just be a Mom at home with my kids, having the time to take walks and enjoy a lovely spring day with my boys.
Coming in second may be the day that DH and I drove to the state capitol to meet with the pension system retirement counselor. DH had lost his job the previous month and we were seriously considering him retiring when he hit 55 in 2 months. The pension system had a very good website and all the calculations looked good but I wanted to make sure that we were accurate on the amount of reduction based on 100% to surviving spouse. We had all our questions prepared and the counselor gave us the final number for 100% to surviving spouse option and clarified the health care insurance options (vastly changed since then).
On the way home I double checked our budget numbers and the now officially verified pension estimates and we seriously talked about the option of retiring. As we talked it all started to sound better and better. He had a job interview coming up and we realized that if it didn't work out, he really could retire. We wouldn't starve, we wouldn't even have to make drastic changes. I could see the weight come off of his shoulders and the worry lines in his face relax. By the time we got home we both knew we'd be just fine!
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scrabbler1
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Same here, Friday, October 31, 2008, the day I ended my career and began my early retirement. It's the only time I had tears of joy.
W2R
Moderator Emeritus
I can't really choose just one day as the best day ever.
But gosh, I am surprised that with all the academics here, nobody here has even mentioned their dissertation defense day as their best day. I was on top of the world that day.
But gosh, I am surprised that with all the academics here, nobody here has even mentioned their dissertation defense day as their best day. I was on top of the world that day.
steelyman
Moderator Emeritus
Bestwifeever
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Perhaps that was also one of the worst days stress-wise, up to a point? I can imagine what a roller coaster that day must have been, Dr. W2R!
I have a lot of little personal moments that are crystallized in my mind, when I knew how special that moment was while it was happening, and I can close my eyes and almost relive them. But Dash man and h20dude's post are good reminders of the knee buckling, thudding feeling of relief when we learn the biopsies were negative, or that the teenager suffered only a couple of broken bones when the car was totaled, that this time at least the news won't be bad. I need to remember those times and feelings, too.
gauss
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Easy,
Senior year of college -- the day the girl who turned out the be my DW finally consented to my advances to be more than just a buddy.
Sealed the deal with a nice kiss.
-gauss
Senior year of college -- the day the girl who turned out the be my DW finally consented to my advances to be more than just a buddy.
Sealed the deal with a nice kiss.
-gauss
I was in a religious cult in 1975. On a whim, left Boston and hitchhiked to Goldsboro, NC. (Stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB and released earlier that year.)
It was around 9PM, starting to get dark and was walking down the main street in Goldsboro. All of a sudden someone called my name and it was my best friend. I thought he was in Thailand and he was the last person I thought I'd see. He had gotten an early discharge, grew a beard and was loving life in Goldsboro.
He had bought an old van and we just hung out listening to ZZ Top, southern rock bands, smoking doobies and reminiscing.
God, I loved my friend. I became estranged from him just this year. I think I'll give him a call tonight.
It was around 9PM, starting to get dark and was walking down the main street in Goldsboro. All of a sudden someone called my name and it was my best friend. I thought he was in Thailand and he was the last person I thought I'd see. He had gotten an early discharge, grew a beard and was loving life in Goldsboro.
He had bought an old van and we just hung out listening to ZZ Top, southern rock bands, smoking doobies and reminiscing.
God, I loved my friend. I became estranged from him just this year. I think I'll give him a call tonight.
RetiredAndFree
Recycles dryer sheets
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Still to come I'm sure. Every experience where I take a risk results in a "best day" in all sincerity. Recently I scaled a peak that involved some Class 3 rock climbing. That was a pretty awesome day. Next week we leave on a multi month RV trip and I expect numerous "best days" to be forthcoming as a result.
I guess I just don't see the joy in tagging one event as my single "best day" ever, as where does one go from there if so?
I guess I just don't see the joy in tagging one event as my single "best day" ever, as where does one go from there if so?
HFWR
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
From "Groundhog Day"...
Phil: I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters.
[Ralph and Gus snort]
Phil: *That* was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get *that* day over, and over, and over...
Phil: I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters.
[Ralph and Gus snort]
Phil: *That* was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get *that* day over, and over, and over...
livingalmostlarge
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my wedding day, it was just us and a justice of the peace. 10 years
Definitely the three best days were the first days I met my adopted children.
#1 son...was sitting in a baby carrier in the orphanage and I was so nervous and excited that I couldn't get him out, lol. The ladies working there had to help me. They probably worried about giving this beautiful baby to the idiot American woman. Finally had him in my arms. Heart melted.
Daughter...first time I saw her was just a visit, I didn't get to bring her home. Foster mom brought her to my hotel and we met in the lobby. Daughter was all wrapped up and covered, even her head. Once in the elevator, I reached out and uncovered her beautiful face. Heart melted.
#2 son...was 2 so a little older. Arrived at the orphanage and they brought him to me (he was walking). He held out his arms to me and I picked him up. He fell asleep in my arms. Heart melted.
It feels so great to think about those beautiful memories! Always my babies!
#1 son...was sitting in a baby carrier in the orphanage and I was so nervous and excited that I couldn't get him out, lol. The ladies working there had to help me. They probably worried about giving this beautiful baby to the idiot American woman. Finally had him in my arms. Heart melted.
Daughter...first time I saw her was just a visit, I didn't get to bring her home. Foster mom brought her to my hotel and we met in the lobby. Daughter was all wrapped up and covered, even her head. Once in the elevator, I reached out and uncovered her beautiful face. Heart melted.
#2 son...was 2 so a little older. Arrived at the orphanage and they brought him to me (he was walking). He held out his arms to me and I picked him up. He fell asleep in my arms. Heart melted.
It feels so great to think about those beautiful memories! Always my babies!
