Happiest Moments

As I was driving to work a couple days ago, I found myself thinking of all my happy times & places. I know people say that they do their best thinking in the shower, but my best thoughts come to me as I'm heading north on the 101 with the speakers playing some classic Ari tunes.

Here are my five (edited to add: ahem, three) favorite time/place/people combinations, at least for right now.

{1}

Road trips with my mother.

We start out with homemade egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches, and my mom makes mine with egg whites, because she knows me. We wash our breakfasts down with iced green tea from huge plastic cups. Then we talk. We don't turn on the stereo, and we don't stop for seven hours. We reminisce on shared memories from the past, figure out our presents, and dream on our futures. I love slowly learning that my mom is more than my mom; she's Tamara, a person, a beautiful woman, and she doesn't have all the answers. Even so, there is something about being with her that relaxes me more than I feel capable of relaxing. In her presence, I can turn myself off a little, and I don't have to hold it all together. There's someone here who's got this. I hope that's what being married is like. Even if it is, I know I'll still sneak off for road trips with my mother.

{2}

Andrew McMahon concerts.

Max & I wait in line, and we bolt through the door before we put our shoes back on after passing through venue security. We secure our places and wait. I shift around a lot, because I need to be perfectly positioned to see Andrew's hands work the piano keys. I ball like a baby and Max pretends not to notice. We both scream-sing ourselves hoarse. Then we spend our paychecks on hoodies. We go every chance we get, and we're never happier than on that car ride home, Andrew's voice still weighing on our minds, laughing about how he said that Arizona keeps it "sexy sweaty". Cos we do.

{3}

Nap time.

Look, this isn't as special as vacation or concerts, and it certainly happens much more frequently but, hot dog, do I love a nap! The set-up never varies. I put in a DVD of FRIENDS, twist the blinds down, leave my make-up on, and crawl into the sheets. I pile the blankets on me, and my kitten loves pile themselves onto the blankets. Two hours later, all the world's ills are lost in our post-nap grog.