What a Difference a Day Made

I was listening to some old jazz today today and came across the "What a Difference a Day Made" song, which got me to thinking about days that have utterly and completely changed my life. This isn't to say that life isn't completely changing and evolving, but there are days that stick in your mind forever and whatever happened on that day makes every day afterward different.

In order, mine are:

The day of my earliest memory...I am four and I am staring out our living room window. I remember wishing that I were bigger. I said as much to my mom and she commented that I should enjoy every part of life, even the part where I am little. I don't remember much else about that conversation, but I remember the enjoying life part. I have, to the best of my recollection, done so to date. What I realized this year is that this also means not living in the past, not regretting that those days are gone. This was not a problem when I married, but before Gus was born, I had a minor panic attack about my carefree days with my husband coming to an end...rather rapidly.

The day I received the Holy Ghost. I remember it much like getting glasses...where you are finally able to see and even when you take them off and everything is blurry, you remember the clarity that you had with them. Sure you can get through life without it, but why would you choose to continually stumble over things you would have been able to see if you would just wear your glasses.

The day before Rob's eye surgery where we decided rather unromantically that we wanted to be together forever. I will never forget the amazement I felt that someone as wonderful as Rob wanted to be with me forever. I still feel lucky...

The day after our wedding...one of those first day of the rest of our lives feelings...the day before felt like a dream, this felt permanent.

Then there is Gus. He cannot be described in one day. He was a long time coming and he is my answer to prayer. There was the day the doctor told me I might wake up from surgery without either ovary and the devastation that I felt and the helplessness we felt putting the matter in God's hands. The joy I felt on the day I saw his heartbeat on the monitor...it didn't feel real until then. The day in the grocery store where God sent a stranger to pray an anointing on my baby. The day he was born when we looked into his eyes and saw an old soul. The first time we took him to church I cried over him and thanked God for him and had the unmistakable feeling that we were supposed to give this one back to him. Our lives all of a sudden feel like there is a lot less wiggle room, that our mistakes from here on out are not as insignificant. It is intimidating and challenging all at the same time. I'm not sure what purpose this baby was born for, but I do know God has been involved from the beginning and he will not abandon us on this, the first day of the rest of our lives. Hopefully we will not fail him either.