This is as good as it gets

Last night was Friday night. At our house, that means Takeout Friday. Tracy brought home fish and chips. We ate it at the table out on our deck. It was 82 degrees kissed by a demure breeze. Our neighbors’ daughter and her friends were having a pool party next door and we could hear them laughing and splashing and having the time of their ten-year old lives.

When the light turned nostalgic, we walked down the street to the park. Daniel–almost age 4–met a stunning 2-year old (you should have seen her eyes!) named Allie and they hit it off right away. Tracy ran into friends–other mothers who were at the park with their kids. Allie’s grandmother and I watched the two kids play like birds who just figured out how to fly. Arms-back, chest-out, chin-up running-jump joy.

When the orangish light began to turn indigo at the edges, we walked home. While Tracy read Daniel his bedtime stories, I went on a secret mission to bring back ice cream for the grown-ups. Downtown was alight and alive with people feasting al fresco on fellowship, food, and Friday. When I delivered the treats, we ate them on the deck in the wink-wink of lightning bugs and twinkle lights.

And I thought: “This is as good as it gets. I dreamt of this when I was a teenager and a twenty-something. There is nothing in all of life to which I could aspire that could be better than this night. This is the good life. Be content. Be thankful. Go to sleep happy. And find a way to be generous with it.” Amen.