the best day since yesterday

Pure and simple: today was a good day. I got up, and the sun wasn't scorching, and it wasn't raining either, and I got someone to drop me at work so I didn't have to walk the whole way, and I cleared those accounts I'd been preparing all week and handed them in for review, and then in the evening, friends. Old friends. Good friends. We sat for four-odd hours and did nothing but catch up. And remember the good ol' days. Business school was a carnival ride. See I can say that now - business school - my uni changed names from just Faculty of Commerce to School of Business. Man, fun times. You know how in the middle of January you go to the chart and see the assignments they have lined up for you and you know it's going to be the four weeks from hell, and you have no choice but to take it. Ya, three weeks ago that was me. I was trying to look ahead and see the light at the end of the tunnel, couldn't even see the walls of the tunnel. Twas like an abyss, black as the Pit from pole to pole (William Henley, anyone?). And then in the middle of it all, when it seems like you can't possibly sink any lower, the curveballs stop coming. You get up and the weather's just right, and you can immediately smell the coffee, and your heartrate's not as jacked as it's been all month. And then when the call comes, "Dude, pizza today, you in?" You know, nothing's going to go wrong today. Whatever else happens, this day is going to be an oasis of hope in the middle of all the plodding and toll, under the bludgeonings of chance. Last year, just before my epic trip to the Sudan(!), I remember creating an album, with pictures of various happy times during the year, and at the end of the album on the very last one the caption I put as, "What, then, shall we say to all these things; friends make me happy." And today I was reminded just how true that really is. I keep learning to never underestimate the power of Providence to surprise you when you least expect it. And to always expect Him to come through for you.

Tomorrow, the sun might not be just so. And the deadlines might become more ridiculous due to this relentless drive of ours to be the standard of excellence. And I might not see anyone I like or even know. And, worse, I might actually be required to work all day (ya, it's gonna be one of those Saturdays). Hell, tomorrow might not even come. So if this is going to be it, if this is as good as it's gonna get, then I'm glad I enjoyed it while it lasted. "Paradise was a place of bliss," said Locke, "...without drudgery and without sorrow." Today, I was in paradise.

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