A long list of Top 10 days…
Don’t count them; enjoy them
Happy Friday Eve.
Happy almost long weekend.
I’m big on being in the moment. Or at least I’m big on trying to be. Admittedly my success rate is mixed, but the more I practice the better I get.
I think.
So anyway let me get into this moment and start summarizing my (semi-?) random (?) Thursday thoughts…
When I have a good day, the kind of day I can’t imagine being any better, a day that exceeds expectations by miles, I call it a Top 10 day. And I pay attention to it.
It’s not literally Top 10 list, because I’ve lost track of my Top 10 days, and I’m sure there are waaaaaaaaaaaay more than 10 on the list. How many more? Who knows. Who cares?
They’re also what I call the “pocket days.” Several years ago I had the opportunity to attend a multi-day music fest in Aspen, CO. On a picture- perfect day, Zac Brown was one of the acts on the bill. During a break in the action, he noted the picture-perfectness of the day and said something to the effect of “Don’t you wish you could put days like this in your pocket so you can pull them out when things suck?” Those words really stuck with me, and they’re what led to me labeling days like this as “pocket days.” And I do sometimes pull them out, when I need some fresh perspective, when I need a reminder of all the great places I’ve been, people I know/have known, experiences I’ve had….
My Top 10 Days list is a lot like my Top 100 Songs list, in that it numbers much higher than the number would indicate. (In fact, my Top 100 Song list, which I have been curating *forever* currently is at 135 top songs. The more I whittle it down, the more I remember to add.)
Last Friday was one such Top 10 day. My sister’s birthday was Sunday, and my mom loves when we go out to lunch to celebrate it. As it so happened my sis was off on Friday, so we had a bit more time and thus leeway about where we could go. As it also so happened, it was a gorgeous day. So my mom offered up several suggestions where we could go and then we landed on a new place, The Point. In Marshfield. On the water. It was perfection from start to finish, top to bottom, and side to side. The weather and the timing also allowed us to detour on the way home for a final outdoor beverage at Roht Marine, on the river, where Marshfield and Scituate meet. We knew immediately that we’ll be unable to recreate that day in the future no matter how hard we might try. So we actively enjoyed it for what it is—one perfect day, a day which we all have no idea exactly how fortunate we are to have had it. Which makes us appreciate it that much more. I put that day right in my pocket for future use—just in case.
We all agreed that being by the ocean makes everything that much better.
The Red Sox have just come off a long-ish losing streak, which has me thinking about losing streaks—who do you blame? Look what happened to the Bruins…first they fired their coach, Monty and then they moved along and traded “everyone” away…only to have several “castoffs” (players and the coach) make it to the playoffs, which the Bs missed…and then Brad Marchand won the Stanley Cup, got drunk off his ass for days…and then…when the rumors that Boston was trying to get him back where reaching a boiling point, he signed with the Panthers for 6 more years. It’s “funny.” Losing streaks are other people’s problems…but everyone wants credit for a winning streak.
Anything and everything to do with the 🐓🌮🤡 is touching my brain cells in some way or another of late.
Pete Hegseth’s insistence on renaming the USNS Harvey Milk…during Pride Month, no less, is reprehensible at best and an overt demonstration of hate at worst. Hegseth said, “people want to be proud of the ship they are sailing in” as he announced the name change to USNS Oscar V. Peterson. Two questions. 1) Why can’t they be proud of Harvey Milk? and 2) Do they know who Oscar V. Peterson is (does anyone?) and are they proud(er) of him? Personally, I think the administration just hates gays. (Though not exclusively; I think they hate a lot of other people and the administration is one big hate-mongering club, TBH. The one thing they don’t discriminate against is who they discriminate against. Equal opportunity haters.)
And ICYMI, while he should have been working he was promoting his fragrance line on Truth Social. I was grateful (it’s come to this, that this is where gratitude lies now) that the official White House social media accounts did not repost/promote it. Small but sad “victories.” ($199 for a regular bottle, $249 for the “statuesque beauties” shown below, featuring Ozempic Donny.)
People want change. And movement is afoot.
They actually are voting for change. Consider Zohran Mamdani’s democratic primary win in the NYC’s mayoral race. And how funny that they call him a nepo baby. He defeated Mario Cuomo’s son. Does anyone know who Zohran Mamdani’s dad is? Who’s the nepo baby now??? The thing about voting for change, or anything, is you need to understand what you’re voting for and why. It’s not that hard. Informed action. The end.
Or they are threatening change. In the latest of what looks like a middle school clash between the leaders of two social cliques, Elon Musk has been very vocal about what he will do if the Bill formerly known as Big Beautiful passes—start a new political party. To be honest, neither party is making me proud lately. So maybe this kind of shakeup is what we need after all. Who knows anymore?
Let’s close as I started, in full appreciation of certain life moments. Like right now, I’m in Maine with two of my (sophomore year) college roommates, Coles Tower, 3C. 40 years ago at this time, we were all enjoying our final days of summer before heading off to college…the last days of our lives without each other in them…and who would have guessed then that this is where we’d be now? Here, together, in Maine, gearing up for a lobster bake tonight to celebrate one of their birthdays?
Time has a funny way of putting things into a different perspective. 40 years have covered varying degrees of in and out of touch-ness…it’s covered weddings and couplings and divorces and uncouplings. Kids and job changes and parents dying and life moving on. It’s covered belly laughs and tears. Sun and rain. Yet here we are now, enjoying this moment for what it is. Time together.
At this point in life you realize that anything can and does change on a dime, without warning and without notice. Because life’s funny like that and life’s a bitch like that. But right now we have this moment, and we owe it to this moment to enjoy it for all that it is. Without regard to what ever has been or whatever might be, right now we have each other. And that’s something to be cherished, celebrated, and appreciated. I like to think we’re doing this moment some very sweet justice.
Repeat: water makes everything better. I want to reiterate the point that I don’t take moments like this for granted. I have no idea how fortunate I am, but I know I am very fortunate. Blessed, even. And while my heart is very much in this moment, my heart also goes out to those of you who are experiencing different kinds of moments right now. This life of ours follows a wild path forged by choice and chance, highs and lows, good and evil. But regardless of what each moment holds, I do find peace in the fact that we are here for each other, and knowing that no matter what happens or where we are, we always will be, in some way, and on some plane of existence, if not in the same physical space. I mean this both in terms of the three of us and also in terms of the rest of us. Connected, always. Being here for each other, always.
I must be getting going on my walk while one former roommate is at the gym and the other gets her manicure taken care of. I hope you have fun plans for the long weekend, however long it is and however you define fun. Whatever moment you’re in, cherish it, if for no other reason than because you have it. Thanks for starting the long weekend off here with me—I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.
Love you too!
Audio accompaniment—the habit isn’t what I'd call “atomic” at this point, but it’s a fun thing for me.