One Night...

Tonight I chose to put my daughter in the bath before bed, and waste away an entire empty Friday night with my beautiful wife rather than tend to nostalgic and half-drunken funny business in my half-familiar hometown. It’s just what I wanted to do. We picked Zoey up at her Grandma’s after work, lingered with indecisive plans, and then chose to burn the night as we did. I’m happy to have done that, exactly that, in exactly such a way.

Tonight we watched One Week, with Josh Jackson, a 93 minute homage to Canada, and a tear inducer on par with the best Spanish Onion you could slice sideways. Watch it or you suck. Aimee, Kevin…you’d love it beyond what most other Americans might. I just know that you would.

Tonight I spoke with my very best of good friends, Andrew Cooper…Coop. He’s just about the best person I know. We spent 37 minutes talking long distance on my cell phone and I couldn’t possibly have cared about the bill any less.

Tonight I drew pictures with my daughter and marveled at the details she chooses to include this week…one week older than the last when she didn’t care to be so specific about her scribbles.

Tonight, after One Week, it struck me that if I had just one week left I’d want to spend at least one night with the very best people that I know. Aside from my family (‘cause you can never really include your family in such imaginary scenarios…it’s against the rules) I’d desperately want to sit beneath stars and beside campfires with my wife and daughter, Andrew Cooper, Serree Gougeon, Scott and Stacey, and perhaps a lingerer or two…because they are the best and sweetest people that I know, the ones who would find a way to best help me live long after I’d died. One Week does that to you.

Tonight I wondered why I haven’t seen more of Canada…why we haven’t made that trek across the country, and then back thru another.

Tonight I thought for the first time that maybe I’d be happy in places I hadn’t ever considered.

Tonight it struck me that one week isn’t very long but that you could probably live a lifetime in it.

Now it’s time to go to bed, if we can commandeer the space back from our sleeping daughter, whose only idea of Manifest Destiny includes those places her parents typically inhabit…I think I’d like to dream big tonight, and then live relatively small but curiously tomorrow.

Tonight wasn’t what I thought it would be and yet, incredibly, more than I had hoped.

Good night little girl. Good night tireless Mummy. Goodnight Coop and Serree, and Scott and Stace. Good night Bergquists. Good night family I so purposefully neglected to include in this post. You don’t need wishes to set you in stone under starry skies and crackling beach fires. Good night .