What is a Golden Day?

Looking up I see a bright blue sky with not a single cloud. The temperature is a pleasant 82 degrees with low humidity. A few leaves are falling, teasing me that autumn is right around the corner. (But I'm not falling for that.) I am sitting on my back porch listening to Sumter, Jackson, and the little girl from across the street laughing as they wash Mike's new car. The house is clean (except for the boys' rooms, of course). I have found a great new recipe for chicken and left-over potato chips. For me, this is a Golden Day.

I call my grandmother Muz. It's nice being the first grandchild because you get to choose the name that everyone else calls the grandparents. Even the great-grands call her that. They just put a "grand" in front and call her "Grand-Muz". Anyway, Muz is the one who came up with that saying, "It's a golden day!" She would say it, and we would all wonder what she meant. I think it meant that it was a day that nothing could go wrong. Of course something always did, but she always tried to look for the best in it. And she was right... if something is truly golden, it must be the best.

I started saying "It's a Golden Day!" to my friends in college. I was a bit jaded, I guess. I said it all "Mary Sunshine", but with a little sarcasm in my voice. I mean, how golden is a day with, for example, a biology mid-term over your head? As college went on, however, I started to really mean it. I started to look at life more as life is golden. Some of my college friends tell me that when they think of me, they think back to that girl at Converse College wearing pearls and Birkenstocks (I couldn't figure out whether I was a debutante or a dead-head. The debutante won.), the first thing coming out of her mouth every morning: "It's a Golden Day!" It kind of became who I was.

I now realize I need to say that more often. Life throws you lots of curves: divorce, remarriage with it's own set of issues, learning a child has dyslexia, losing those EXTRA pounds (Yippee!!!!) and then gaining half of them back again (that really stinks!!!!). But each day can be golden. Sometimes is as obvious as it is today. Sometimes it is quiet and sneaks up on you.