Day 166: Top 5 Great Things About March 3rd, 2021

We have a lot of reasons to complain. We’ve done it so often that not finding things to complain about feels abnormal. We’re a year into the pandemic. We feel hopeless and lonely. A lot of us are scraping to get by. It’s either too cold or too hot outside. Rent is too damn high. Our stomachs hurt. The president is a demmycrat. We’ve heard and said it all. It’s just so easy to get lost in the misery because it surrounds us every day, in every corner of the world. But we live in magical times that are easily taken for granted. Could you imagine how any of this would have gone 30 years ago? How much more difficult it would be to manage a widespread deadly disease? How hard it would be to keep in touch with your loved ones in lockdown? How impossible it would be to get things done? How many more people would’ve died? How many more would have lost their minds? We have the technology to overcome all of this and make problems evaporate. But we’re too lost in the malaise to care. I know I am and I’m sure you are too.

Despite all of that, today was a damn fine day in my world and I feel the urge to speak that truth out loud. So here’s the Top 5 Things that happened today.

5) This mug. Lookit this fucking mug!

We went to Salvation Army with the sole intention to buy some kitschy coffee mugs. And I found the holy grail. Why would anybody ever give this up? Apparently, Belmont Park only made souvenir mugs in 1985. It wasn’t an anniversary or year of importance, it was just the year that they decided to make mugs. And I will gladly drink my morning coffee out of it until the day I die! These puppies are going for 20 bucks on eBay. I copped mine for 50 cents. God damnit, it was a good day!

4) I didn’t get out of bed until after noon

It’s a wonderful thing when you don’t have to get out of bed right away and you don’t feel like doing so. I laid in bed for two hours, making up stupid songs that made no sense, reading and just generally living my best life. And I had zero regrets for doing so. If that’s not the start of a good day, I don’t know what is…

3) I get to watch wrestling and baseball at the same time

This hasn’t actually happened yet, but it’s about to. It all depends on how quickly I can write this list. But really, how fucking awesome is that?!? Two of my favorite things, live, playing on side-by-side screens?!? Shoot. Only a day like today could something so ridiculous take place.

2) I played Mini Golf

The weather stayed warm long enough to get a quick 18 holes in and I’m a happier man for it. Mini Golf is the ultimate March sport, because it’s so early in the year that everyone thinks you’re crazy for doing it. Yeah, because only an idiot would play Mini Golf when the weather is fine and they can have the whole course to themselves. It’s hard to have a bad day on an empty Mini Golf course.

1) I did all of these things with the woman I love

Times are tough and it feels extremely rare that we both maintain a good mood for the entire day. But not once did I have a doubt in my mind that she wasn’t happy. And that’s an indescribable feeling. All I want is for her to be happy, but sometimes I try too hard and overcorrect everything. Or sometimes I make myself unhappy in the process. It’s a delicate balance that worked out perfectly today. And that means the world to me, to know that she also had a good day.

I could’ve had the same exact day and found nothing but things wrong with it. I couldn’t find any good jackets, there was a lot of traffic, Target was annoyingly crowded, my taste buds are all fucked up, my fish sandwich burned my mouth, I got my ass kicked at mini golf, it’s already 8:00 and I still have to cook dinner. But none of these things really bothered me like they would on a normal day. I guess that’s what it truly means to have a good day.

But if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go curl up on the couch with Rachel and continue this great evening. I’m going to lay there and hope that tomorrow, I can continue embracing the little things. Because life is too short and the world is too amazing of a place for us to take it for granted. We can’t let the little things get us down, we have to let them lift us up.

– TeeCoZee