Trading Neon for Sunshine Today

It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers
Wild gamblers
That's all in the past
Deacon Blues - Steely Dan

Today my past seems further behind me than at any time I can remember. Not in a bad way. More like seeing it with a clarity and perspective that comes only with distance.

The weather today... my god, it must have been in the mid-sixties! A perfect day. More relaxing and fun than any I've had in a long, long time. And what was I doing that was so amazing? Not much, really. Sitting outside with my family. Cooking hot dogs on the grill, rolling a ball with my daughter, tossing it up in the air and listening to her howl with laughter when daddy would bounce it off his head, then kick it high up in the air.

It was just the three of us - well, four when you count Matthew, with whom I'm 5 months pregnant. Hearing my daughter laugh, feeling my son kick, watching my husband's eyes fill with love as I struggled to extricate myself from my camper's chair - it was all so simple, and so wonderful.

Most of what I write is humorous, or at least attempts to be. Often times it is dark humor. And while it's generally personal, it's rarely about my husband and children. I guess I feel like it's okay to make sport of my own personal folly, but I have an obligation to protect my loved ones from any invasion of their privacy.

Today I want to break from that just a bit. No dark humor. Just a few words from a wife and mother, to say "thank you" to my family for such a beautiful, beautiful day. I am the luckiest woman in the world!