And I think to myself, "Self, what a wonderful world."

So it’s Saturday afternoon, not too hot, which is shocking for August 1st in North Carolina. And I’m taking Bo out front to pee, since our yard isn’t fenced, and I decide to walk uphill to the end of the driveway to get the mail, which thankfully still comes on Saturdays even though rumor has it that costs are going up too high for the USPS to keep on doing that.

And I grab the mail and muscle the mailbox closed because ever since Bad Drivers #1 through #14 turned around in our driveway and slammed into it with their cars it won’t close very well, and I turn and call Bo who’s walked a ways down the road. And he turns back and leaps toward me and picks up a stick on the way, so as I start walking back down the driveway, he’s hopping around me with his new toy and I ask him, “Do you want to go see Brian?” and he darts away toward the house to get back to his favorite person in the world.

And I look ahead of me and I see my happy, handsome dog dashing toward my home – my cheery blue house with the bright red door, the house I own and live in – and I see the sunlight glimmering through the bright green trees onto the gravel below, casting spectacular shadows, and I feel the breeze in my hair. And I’m walking up my driveway, knowing I have a husband inside who loves me and a few bills in my hand that we have to pay this week and a few chores inside that I have to finish, and I think to myself, this is exactly what my eight-year-old self pictured being an adult would feel like, and it’s perfect.

And I walk inside and tell Brian this realization and he says with conviction, “That’s right! I’ve given you everything you could possibly want.”

And I know he’s joking in his manly, Brian way, but it’s true.