Today

B here...Today was a great day...It wasn't great because we necessarily did anything really; just an average day really--I got up, worked out some, came back and took off with Natalie to a meeting, then just spent time with her. Of course, I don't know if she counts me crashing on the couch for most of the afternoon as "spending time together," but I do =). It was a great day simply for the fact that we were together, just being with each other. You might think it odd that I chose a career--the military--that will undoubtedly separate us for stretches at a time, but knowing that just makes days like today all the more sweet. Work gets in the way during the week, with suppertimes and maybe an hour or two in the evenings all the time we get to really spend with each other, so weekends together are the light at the end of the tunnel.
I read once that back in the 14th century or so, the King of Spain sat down and counted all the days that he'd been truly happy during his 50 years of rule. He came up with 14; 2 weeks of happiness out of 50 years. That's 2 weeks out of 2600 weeks, 14 days out of 18,250. That is truly terrible. In the last two weeks, I've spent 2 whole weekends with just Natalie and I. That's 14 days of living, and 4 days of total happiness. More, if you count Fridays after work--when I put the books on the back burner and do my best to forget they exist for a few days. So, back to the numbers...I'll go back three weeks, and I've got 5 days of happiness--it'd be 6, but I had a duty shift that knocked one out. 21 days, 5 'happys.' At that ratio, in a year that'd be near 85. Granted, life picks some weird times to come bite you in the butt, so 85 is obviously high. So, say Natalie and I just decide to forget the whole happiness bit and just rage on each other a few weekends. Go worst case scenario, and assume we go on a diet of nails and rage-ahol. Maybe cut my number of 'happys' in half--down to 42.5 for the year. And you better give me that half a day too, because if I've had to deal with a nail-eating, rage-drinkin' Natalie for any length of time, I think I've earned that half a day...So there we are, at an arbitrary number of 42.5 days of pure happiness out of 365. Still, you know what that makes me?? Richer in one year than that ol' King of Spain would have been had he ruled for 100. And for that, I am eternally thankful.