Four Days

I Would Like to Relive

1. The day Katie was born. All their births were wonderful, but Katie was the first. It was the only pregnancy blissfully free of doubt and worry, and every emotion was new and unexpected. I spent 9 months preparing for her arrival by reading every book I could get my hands on. On the day she was born, I forgot everything I read and I've spent the past 10 years trying to figure it out. On that day, I stopped being just Kelly and became Katie's Mom. What a gift - it was the best day of my life.

2. The day before my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. Until the doctor looked at my father and told him he had cancer, I lived in the world where young women think their young parents will never die. Until that day, Daddy was invincible, and that's my favorite way to remember him.

3. My wedding day. I married a handsome young man on a hot summer day. The day was just pregnant with possibilities - the things we could do, the places we could go, the family we could have. The day we met, I walked past him and he turned to his boss and said "One day, I'm going to marry that girl." Who knew?

4. Every ordinary day. Like today, when nothing special happened except the sun is shining and I am blessed a thousandfold with friends and family whom I love and who make me feel loved. When I get to have coffee with my friends and my kids yell and cry and kiss me for no reason and my husband asks me to take his clothes to the dry cleaners and I face down a mountain of laundry and, once again, lose.

It is the best day. It is the best life. Thank God.