Did you ever have one of those days when the forces of the universe just seem to line up, and wonderful things happen? Well, that was today. Okay, admittedly, some of the happiness was a little manipulated, but most was unexpected and fabulous.

Getting out of preschool helper mom duty: I signed up last month to be helper mom today. This morning, when Reg wasn’t getting ready for work, I realized he didn’t have a final. I joked that he could sub for me as preschool helper, and Gwennie got so excited about the idea (moms at preschool are a dime a dozen, but a dad helping out is really, really cool) that Reg agreed to do it. I got to drink a WHOLE cup of coffee out of a real, as in not travel, mug while it was still hot. True luxury.

Vintage ER: I went to the Y for my workout and my favorite TV treadmill was open (there are only six TV treadmills). It was exactly 10:00 a.m. and an old ER was just starting on TNT. When I say old ER, I mean first season–Peter, Doug, Mark, Carter, Carol, Susan…even Morgenstern (William H. Macy, for those who don’t remember). I love old ER. I stayed on the treadmill for an hour (that’s 750 calories, woot).

Magic Card: Now, this event also involves a power outage that messed up the computer at our mall bookstore. Gwennie wanted to go to the bookstore to buy a dinosaur book with her book store gift cards. I grabbed an old card with $17.01 left on it along with one of her new $25 cards. When we got to the bookstore, we discovered that everything in the store was 30% off. I went to use the $17.01 card to pay for Gwennie’s book totaling $28. The cash register, which was screwed up from the power outage, read the magic card incorrectly, and cleared it for the whole order–we saved $11. Then, when I was paying for my book, the cashier said, “Let’s try that card again.” It worked–another $10. We called my sister and then grabbed some books for her kids, and yep, we used the magic card again. This time, it only worked for the $17.01 amount, but we still got three more books.

Mira’s Mother’s Day Gift: Mira brought home the Mother’s Day folders that they made for us in school. I hope I always remember the pure beauty of these moments. The folder had five pages, each of which had some kind of writing activity. Mira wrote that I was her best friend, an outstanding gardener and a terrific cook. She also said that I “put together the best dress up outfits.” My favorite part is when she described my ability to remove stains from her clothes. I’m a complete freak about stain removal, laughed and cried at this part. Pure and simple, I felt truly loved, reconized, and appreciated. 

Girls Night pre birthday celebration: My SIL Crse and I went out to dinner at Chili’s, which is one of my favorite “this shit is terrible for you” places to eat. I got a big green, fruity coconutty drink with Jamaica in the description. It came in a tall mug. But the best part, another longtime friend joined us for some Target shopping and a movie. We saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and it was so indescribably funny. See it. I haven’t laughed so hard since Borat. After laughing for nearly two hours, I feel cleansed and energized.

It was, a surprisingly perfect day. And even more so because I needed it so much. Thank you dear family, dear friends, and dear universe–causer of blessed power outages.