Have you ever flown United Airlines? Their inflight magazine, Hemispheres, must be available in First Class. I love the Three Perfect Days pieces, don't you?
Anyway - I recently spent One Perfect Day with my Sister-By-Choice, Penny in Ottawa.
I woke up in Penny's third floor bedroom, surrounded by sunflowers and angels on the wall. It was a sunny, cloud-free winter morning so we bundled up and walked over to the Rideau Canal ("The World's Largest Skating Rink") for a brisk skate. In the afternoon we headed to Le Nordik spa in Quebec where we did "the baths": outdoor hot-tubs and cool water dipping pools - also wet and dry saunas and "quiet rooms".
We had dinner at a busy pub in the nearby village - I had a yummy bison burger, and Penny loved the micro-brewery beer they served. Back in Ottawa we went straight to the National Arts Centre where we had tickets to see The Year of Magical Thinking - a one-woman play based on the Joan Didion novel of the same name. The tickets were my Christmas gift to Penny.
I'm reading the book, now. Penny thinks one of her real sisters gave it to me right after my brother, Mike died. Penny was dating Mike at the time, and I ended up giving her the book - which is about the sudden death of Joan Didion's husband and her subsequent period of grieving. It's a bit strange that I only met Penny once while he was still alive, and in fact now I've known her more than twice as long a he did. We've become so close ince he left us, and I understand so completely why he loved her - I love her, too. As someone noted recently, Penny is a gift Mike left to me.
We went back to Penny's house, got into our jammies (thanks, Theresa), threw in a DVD, and ate a massive bowl of popcorn. I retired to my sunflower/angel room on the third floor and Penny's new kitten, Baby Gaga, curled up beside me and purred.
Perfect.
Julie
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