drwex | These are the days of wine and roses

I was recently found by a long-lost friend. This is a fellow I tell stories about and some of you have heard them. If you haven't, ask; they're good stories. I had a habit of Google searching for him 2-3 times/year because really I kept hoping he'd turn up. Of course, within minutes of his finding me on Linked In I thought to look for him on Facebook. And duh, there he was. Shoulda known.

The same day I got back in touch with him I had a chance to carry one of my kids up to bed. The kids are getting big - it won't be long until they're too big to want, or for me to be able, to carry them upstairs. And it started me thinking. These are the best years of my life. These, right here right now. But also, those years when I hung out with that friend who just re-found me? Those were best years, too. And before that? There were years that were best before I'd even met him. Not all, but they were good. Right now I'm enjoying a new phase of friendship with someone I was close to a while ago. When we were close before? Best years. Also, now? Best, in ways I didn't even think would be possible.

And some day my kids are going to be grown up and gone from the house which will seem unnaturally quiet and empty and those will be best years too because I'll have more time and freedom to do things with Pygment and maybe get a call some day from a grandchild. I can't wait for those best years, too.

(No, I don't really know what brought this on. I'm still the same aggressive cantankerous me you've always known - I promise. I think I'm just working on rejecting the "best days of our lives" notion. There's not one best and trying to compare _this_ best with _that_ best is really missing the point.)