The Most Ordinary Day

Today was perfect. The kind of perfect that reminds you why you believed in magic as a little kid and could spend hours chasing imaginary friends and fairies around your yard. The sun rose on the early winter day, and shone perfectly through my yard, in the way a child might show the sun's rays hitting the earth. The air smelled like Christmas, and the tea kettle hissed as water boiled for my toddler's oatmeal, the house smelled like cinnamon. Our small dog was snuggled up on the couch, in his old age the early rise of his little best friend was not something he was a fan of, but his desire to never be alone forces his ageing limbs out of the bed where he snuggles warm with my finace and I, onto the couch with his cat sisters, reluctant grunts as he stretches at hearing the child's first cries.

Mid-morning rolls around and the man who stole my heart a little over 5 years ago comes home with lunch, fresh coffee in hand, and a treat for our baby. I am reminded of the kindness that made me fall in love with him. We spend his short break discussing the goals we have for our budding businesses that we hope will rescue us from ordinary life. His hope and ambition sound like motivation. We finish our lunch and I collect our dishes as he gets ready to head back to work, and the sweet little boy with his dad's perfectly, permanently, furrowed eyebrows, and bright blue eyes that have been passed through generations of my family and remind me of the safety and peace I feel from my father, covered in the remains of his lunch says "bath time mama?"

When we are clean, I put on his favourite movie and make him his favourite snack, and with the hour that buys me, I decided to finish my homework. Listening to my baby watch his movie relieves the stress of college life and impending deadlines and I am at peace.

Then it is time for the littlest member of my heart to take a nap and as I carry him to his bed he rests his small head on my shoulders and my heart fills with the purest form of love I've ever felt as I lay him down and stroke his hair the way I've done since the day he was born and his eyelids flutter shut.

I turn on his sound machine and quietly close his door as I leave his room.I bring my dog outside, and through the gentle music on the monitor watch as my dog wanders the yard looking for the perfect spot. We got back inside and I quietly clean my house listening to my son's tiny snores.

The workday is finished for my partner and mine begins as I catch up on lectures and orders and begin to study for my final exams; while glancing over my shoulder as I watch father and son bond over silly games I don't have a hope in understanding.

Together we sit down for dinner, and we laugh about the funny way our child eats his supper etching the fleeting moment into our memories forever. And then we begin the bedtime routine, and my son tells me he can read the book on his own, even though he most definitely can't and so I laid down in bed with him and listened to his made-up words as he excitedly flips through the pages. Turning on his lullabies again, I quietly leave his room and listen as he tells himself stories until he falls asleep. I wonder what he is saying and what kind of magical places his imagination are taking him.

Cuddled on the couch, I end my day, with the person I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with, watching our current favourite cheesy sitcom, and laughing way too hard at the jokes. We go to our room at the end of the night where our little, old man of a dog cuddles between us under the blanket and huffs in a way that you could only guess would mean "good night, unless there's a fire, don't wake me." We settled into sleep and I realized that, though no different than our routine, today was perfect. Today I recognized that magic I had once felt in everyday life and felt I had lost a long time ago.

What shifted, was it the time, or season, was it that weather that day or did a butterfly flap its wings in Brazil and take away the things that made me forget what kind of things I had always loved. But either way, today felt gifted, and so as they say on the final page of all fairytales and stories of magic...

The End.