Didn’t sit in the swing on the porch today and do any pondering. Mother Nature is still blowing her wind here and it just makes it too cold. I did notice the blue, cloudless sky and the ever present turkey vulture. Bird feeders are getting low on seed so I know I’ve had some visitors today. Saw a few cardinals, a purple finch, and three chickadees. Didn’t see the yellow goldfinches.

Ever had a red-letter day, a day so perfect you will always remember it? I have and had one today. I call these days red letter days, happy days you remember and reflect on when you are feeling down and counting blessings. My red-letter days are not made or planned. They are days that ordinary things happen but the planets align and put a special spark on the nuances of the day. Most of my red-letter days are days overflowing with happiness.

Went to a birthday party today for the newest great-grandchild of the McMurray family. He celebrated his first birthday with a group of little friends, all his grandparents and his great-grandmother. The party was so cute with a puppy dog theme. I know his mother spent hours creating the setting. The children were adorable, happy and healthy, jumping in a little bouncy house and running around with the careless freedom of childhood.

The birthday boy is a beautiful child, movie star handsome with his dark eyes and precious expressions. You know that movie, Something’s Gotta Give, staring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton? At the end of the movie Jack Nicholson walks in a restaurant carrying his granddaughter and has this bragging grin on his face, wanting all the patrons to look at him and the baby. This darling baby has perfected the Jack Nicholson grin when he wants your attention on him. There’s a short video of him driving a little car his daddy is pushing at an Auburn tailgate party and he’s looking around, wanting everyone to see him, just like Nicholson did in that movie. He’ll be driving his little Jeep, flashing that grin, and picking up the girls before we know it.

Came home and the red-letter day memories just kept piling up. I received a text from my nephew saying that he appreciated yesterday’s blog on how he inspires me. He said, “Our family is the reason I live the way I do. Ya’ll set the standard and show me how to live and do things the right way…” He wrote a beautiful long heartfelt text that made me weep. I printed it out and put it in my jewelry box where I keep my special notes.

On the way to the party at the farm, my daughter-in-law called and we had a happy conversation. I talked to her while I drove down the dirt road at the farm on the way to the party. We got cut off when I got out of cell service but she text me back telling me to enjoy the party and thanked me for the “sweet words” about her in yesterday’s pondering. She’s a gem, too!

I remember the first time my oldest grandson Alexander called me Patty. It’s a red-letter day, too! Thomas kept telling me that Alexander and I played Patty Cake so much he would’t be surprised if Alexander called me Patty. I had just about given up on a grandmother name. Chief kept telling me to just let Alexander come up with a name by himself and eventually he did and like other grandmothers I was thrilled when that little face looked at me and said Patty. Didn’t realize how many red-letter days I had till I started writing them down.

My last red-letter day before today was a trip to the University of Alabama with my oldest son Thomas. He had been named a Distinguished Fellow in the Engineering Department at the University and took me with him to the award’s ceremony. We had a wonderful day and he treated me with Southern gentleman manners just like his daddy always did. We walked around the campus, talking about his college days, and enjoyed being just the two of us. I’ll always cherish those memories.

I was thinking of other red-letter days and could come up with more than a few. Ordinary days where something happens to make the day extraordinary. Red-letter days are memorable days, days that you will always remember. They can be important events in daily life or small nuances that make a day special. I always write the little red-letter happenings on a my calendar. Something as simple as enjoying a hot cup of coffee in the morning with a beautiful lake view, or something as memorable as the birth of a grandchild, are red-letter days. To me, red-letter days are the jewels in our memories.