The Best Kind of Day

I love planning. I really do. Whenever I travel to a new place, I do tons of research about the location I’m going to visit, and plan out an itinerary that ensures I will be experiencing all the “best of” spots the place has to offer. I make lists of the best (affordable) restaurants, the best (fun) museums, and other local off-the-beaten-path wonders that beg to be discovered.

Even when I am not travelling, I still like to plan ahead, and am a card-carrying member of the list-makers club. For instance, on Friday, I made the following list of things I wanted to accomplish this weekend:

·         Laundry

·         Water plants

·         Vacuum

·         Buy ingredients for cupcakes

·         Bake cupcakes

·         Go to Empire State Museum

·         Print photos

·         Send gift to niece and nephew

·         Go through Em’s toys for possible donations

·         Buy Valentines gifts for Em’s teachers

Do I ever actually get everything on my list done? Rarely, if ever.  But writing down all of my silly and serious “to dos” helps keep me somewhat focused and my time somewhat structured. I’m not a type-A personality, by any stretch of the imagination. I’d probably classify myself as a B+ (which, coincidentally, is my blood type).

But… god..  it’s so nice when days like yesterday happen.

My husband works on Saturdays, so Sundays are supposed to be our “Family Day” together. Unfortunately, for the past three months, Sundays have been spent with one us getting over a cold while another one of us comes down with a new virus, and none of us having any energy. Last Sunday, Dada and I were both semi-healthy, but we left Em with Baba and Grampy so we could go join our friends at a Superbowl party.  This Sunday was the first Sunday in a long long time that Emmy, Dada and I were all together, AND healthy AND energetic, and I was totally excited to plan something for us to do together. That’s why I put “Go to Empire State Museum” on my list of “to dos”.

So Sunday morning, the three of us woke up and started playing together in our pajamas. First we threw a ball back and forth, with Emmy delightfully playing the role of the monkey-in-the-middle. Then we had fun building a fortress out of pillows and blankets in the middle of the living room (which we discovered made Emmy fretfully claustrophobic). Then Dada and I held a blanket by the four corners and tossed Emmy and her bear up and down in the air (Emmy wanted us to do this for about an hour, but Dada and I were afraid she would end up puking, and plus besides our arms were getting WAY tired). Then we had a Sunday dance party. Then we all sang karaoke together using our x-box (ok, Mama and Dada mostly sang, and Emmy joined in on the choruses).  Then we ate lunch and napped. Then we visited Baba and Grampy, drank a glass of white wine (don’t worry, Em drank juice and ate crackers), and told funny stories and talked about the value of family.

It was amazing. I forgot about all the things I had planned to do (well, mostly. In the afternoon I still made cupcakes, but I made them with Dada and Em’s help WHILE playing Ring-Around-the-Rosie, and had lots of fun getting powdered sugar and frosting all over the kitchen). I threw my list of projected accomplishments out the window and just focused my attention on the two people I adore the most in the whole entire world.

In the late evening, with Em asleep in my arms and Dada asleep next to me on the couch, I sat back and just basked in the exhaustion of a beautiful day together. I realized, joyfully, that I had shortened my to-do list for Family Day to just one word: love.