As good as it gets?

I thought things were as good as they would ever get when I was in first grade and two boys fought to kiss me good bye every Friday afternoon.  The world was my oyster and my oyster was tiny and easy to manage.

I thought nothing could top hanging out with my cousin and watching The Love Boat and pretending we had poopoopolitis just like they did on the cruise ship.

I thought life was as good as it would get when MJ and I would pass notes in middle school through the Bobby and Bobby Express.  I wanted basketball games never to end as we hung out with ‘our’ boys in my den over February break.

I thought things could never be any better or any more fun than Leadership with Mr. Saputo, Chemistry with Mr. Wolber, Physics with Mr. Tursi and French with Madame.  I thought hanging out in George’s red Mustang and watching Bring on the Night with Caryn were simply as good as it gets.

I thought I would never be happier than I was at Notre Dame at football games, tailgates and hanging out with my girls in 3A.  I thought a vacation could never be better than hanging in Cancun or Key West with my friends.  I thought St. Patrick’s Day would never be as much fun as it was at Lafayette Square.

I thought my wedding day was the day that couldn’t be topped in my life as the perfect combination of significance and  fun.

I thought life on the Northside of Richmond spent on the front porch with my first born was the summit on the road I had been traveling.

And things always got better than I had dreamed possible.  And the road that I got on after I thought it couldn’t get better has always had dips and turns that I didn’t foresee.  But each time I think it can’t get any better than it is or was I end up being wrong and experiencing a moment, an hour or a succession of days that make me smile and feel love and happiness exponentially larger than the times before.

That’s what has happened as I skated my way into this new decade.

How can it get any better than time with my children, Justin and mom?

Followed by being whisked away by my friend of a lifetime to celebrate with my dearest girls on a mountain removed from the stressors of our everyday lives.

And back down to skate the night away with the friends I adore.

How, I ask, how can it get better than that?

But I feel like I am climbing that mountain again and getting ready to crest into happiness I’ve never felt before.

And I wonder, what could possibly be better than what I’ve had so far?