Inspired by the movie City Slickers in which the three characters ask each other this, I thought this would be a fun poll. What were the best and worst days in your life? I’ll start.
My worst day: was the day I found out that I had been adopted. I was 14 years old, and my bio mom told me in the house of a cousin, 200 miles away from any kind of real support network. It brought my whole world crashing down around my ears, and it took me years to recover. My adopted parents reacted terribly, so it only got worse. With not very much effort, I can still remember that awful feeling - after I got over being stunned, of course.
My best day: Well at the risk of sounding sappy, it’s been every day since I met my current SO. But if I had to pick one, it would be the day that he really convinced me I was the one for him. Partly because of the above, I had lousy self-esteem for a long time, and I couldn’t believe anyone would want me. The day he convinced me that he really wanted to spend his life with me and grow old with me was my best day.
Worst Day – April 20, 1982. My wife left me. I was unemployed at the time. It was certainly the low point of my life.
Best Day – November 11, 1984. My daughter was born. This occurred four days after I sold my novel. I was feeling pretty good (even though the birth was a bit scary).
**Worst day ** - I’ve actually had a fairly trauma-free life, so I guess the worst day was the day Challenger exploded. Dreams died that day.
B**est day ** - Easy one. September 12th. I met my wife on that day, proposed one year later on that day, and married her one year after that, on that day.
Best: Gulf Shores Alabama - Columbus Day, 1993 - as I watch DeBoyfriend wade, fully dressed, out into the Gulf of Mexico, up to his butt, I realized that he’s an idiot. And that I never wanted to spend another day without him. And I haven’t. Married June 1994.
Worst: August 16, 1994 - one tiny little misstep. Followed by 3 surgeries, 2 years in a wheel chair, constant pain, never being able to walk right again. Bad day.
Best: I’d say my wedding day, but that was a little too stressful to be the best. Probably some day in November, 1999 (I forget the exact day). My boyfriend and I had a “date” day - we had dinner and went to see a movie - then that night he asked me to marry him. He’s the best.
Worst: January 12, 2004. My mom was injured, and my two-year-old niece and the light of my life killed, by a driver who ran his stop sign and t-boned Mom’s car. His trial begins January 5.
Worst days: December 15, 1982 – my 16th birthday party at a local pizza parlor and NO one showed up.
June 2, 1985 – my high school graduation and just before heading to the all-night party, my dog got run over by a neighbor.
June 22, 1989 – En route to a midnight screening of the Batman movie, I suffered a massive panic attack. My paths of my life have never been the same since.
Best days: Spring, 1984 – winning two heats at a track meet in front of my parents.
Summer, 1985 – winning two tickets to the MLB All-Star game.
Summer, 2001 – seeing my niece turn an unassisted double-play in softball.
Best day: wedding day, undoubtedly. Fun, no stress, great food, and my wife looked gorgeous.
Worst day: yeesh, how to pick. Bad things tend to happen to me in week-long stretches, so if I can take that whole week, it was probably that time back in 1999 that I lost a $200 contact lens, became so sick that I couldn’t eat for four days, and finally became the mayo in a sandwich-style car wreck. And this all happened the week before finals in my first semester of law school. Actually, I posted about that week here, come to think of it.
Best Day – the day before Labor Day 1996. Everything in my life was as perfect as it could be: my marriage was 5 months old, I had just moved into a new stage at work, I had just had a friend from Isreal over for a week, had been to two weddings in the last three weeks, had gone TDY to two classes in the last three weeks, went to a science fiction convention, and now was time to rest before going back to the normal grind. Laying down that night with my wife was just this wonderful thing…
Worst Day – Labor Day 1996. We had shut the phone off so we could sleep in. At 0730 a county sherrif knocked on the door and told us we had to my wife’s parents. At 0300 that morning he had burst into their room grabbed a shotgun, annouced he was killing himself, and ran off. The police found his body in his car about an hour later. 14 hours later, we get there. The drive is darkest, dreariest day I ever want to experince.
The thing that makes it stand out is of course the contrast. I don’t think the good time would seem quite the peak, or the bad time quite as bad (I had met my brother-in-law only twice) if they hadn’t been so close together.
Best day - Forget the exact day, but it was summer day in '99, when counselor left me a message saying I had officially graduated. I slept the most peaceful sleep ever.
Worst day - April 7, this year, findint out my father passed away.
Best day: Probably the day that I happened to fly into town the day one of my nieces was born. Getting to hold her in the hospital room within a couple hours of her birth was amazing. 9/4/03.
Worst day: The day my stepfather tried to commit suicide and my mom’s instincts saved his life. Truly awful. 10/2/01.
Worst day(s): Miscarriage at 18 weeks between the two live births. Yeah, it took 2 days. Close second was the day my mother died. Third (yeah, I know you only asked for one each): September 11, 2001.
Worst day: June 19, 1996, holding my mother’s hand as she died in the hospital.
Best day: the day in the week before Christmas 1996 when I got off the bus after flying down here from Canada and met my (now) wife for the first time in person. We exchanged our first, live, “I love you,” and she was so much better than I could have imagined, I cried tears of real joy for the first time in my life.
Worst day: Sometime towards the end of treeplanting last summer. It may have been during the nine days of rain, or maybe the day we had to replant. My bf was maybe 900 km away and hadn’t contacted me in two months. I was very depressed; I seriously wanted to die.
Best day: Still waiting, it’s a bit early to judge.