Sunday

A long time ago, or what feels like a long time ago, anyway, Sunday used to be my least favorite day of the week.  For my first 3 years of college, I was in a long distance relationship with the boy who grew up and became my husband.  Luckily, we were only 1.5 hours away from each other, and with the train/driving, it was very easy for us to spend time with each other on the weekends.  We'd trade off who did the traveling (though, let's be honest, I probably went to Chicago far more often than he came to DeKalb, can you blame me?), leaving on Friday afternoon after class and/or work and returning home on Sunday night.

I feel grateful that we were able to spend those weekends together.  Living in different cities during the week really made us appreciate the time we had together even more.  Cell phones and the internet made a long distance relationship seem not so distant, too, but there's nothing better than actually getting to inhabit the same space, exist under the same light.  So I loved those Friday afternoons, anticipatory moments either waiting for him to arrive, or making my way into the city, my heart fluttering as I headed north on Lake Shore Drive, closer to his apartment on Newgard.  And those Sunday evenings, driving home on I-88 in the dark, or the two of us going downtown on the Red Line together so I could get on a Metra train out west, well...  for a long time, I really dreaded Sundays.  

My senior year of college, after he graduated from college, we moved into our first apartment, a first floor one bedroom dwelling in a generic college town housing complex.  It wasn't anything too special, but it was ours.  Now we've been living together for several years and so often I feel spoiled by the simple luxury of falling asleep together every night and waking up next to him every day.  Especially now that we live in a beautiful apartment in Chicago, something I dreamed of doing for a very long time, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude  I certainly do not take it for granted; I remember what it felt like to have to leave one another for five long nights all those years ago.  And something especially magical has happened over the course of the last few months...  You see, the husband and I are lucky to have an overlapping day off in Sundays.  Having this time together has been so damn amazing!  It's made all the difference and I love our Sundays together.  In fact, Sunday has slowly turned into one of my favorite days.  

Today was certainly no exception to that...  we woke up early and went out for breakfast, then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon running errands and relaxing.  I wrote some letters to family and friends and we each did a small load of laundry at the relatively quiet laundromat.  This evening, he and I are going out on a date to our favorite local Thai restaurant, bringing a bottle of chilled Chardonnay to enjoy with our dinner.  It's November and I spent all day walking around outside comfortably in jeans and a flannel--60 degrees and sunshine, perfect.  Getting to spend it with one another is the very best part.  I am one lucky lady to get these days with him, to exist in this brilliant corner of the world.