What was the best day of your life?

The day I graduated from flight school ...

The day Ryan Sonner moved from Alabama back to Virginia.

 

Will you be having a cash or open bar?

 

Great idea for a thread.

For me, it was probably the day I found out that I was getting a contract to write a book.

Hoping there are many more best days to come.

 

My dad taught me to keep score.
Mickey hit one out.
(Oh, right ... that was Billy Crystal's best day).

Mine: May 19, 2001 ... married Mrs. Hondo and inherited two great step-kids.

Second: One fine day in April, late 1990s, 18 holes at Augusta National.

 

1) The night before Mardi Gras, must have been 2000 or 2001, I met up with some friends in New Orleans. We proceeded to have an epic night. Went to the Bacchus parade, wandered around the Quarter for hours seeing many fine (and some not so fine) boobies, and went to a Cowboy Mouth concert that lasted until 3 a.m. After that, it was onto the Krystal on Bourbon Street for more mirth.
At the concert, one of my friends cockblocked another, so friend No. 2 spent the whole night telling No. 1 that the girl he was trying to hook up with could have been his future wife, and No. 1 had ruined his life.
We finally went back to the car at 7 a.m., so late that the attendant had left and we didn't have to pay. Six of us crammed into a Saturn and waited for friend No. 1 (the driver) to get going, but he sat there for 10 minutes waiting for the car to warm up. Friend No. 2, sitting in the backseat, went on yet another rant about his life being ruined and bashed No. 1 with a giant plastic toothbrush he had caught at the parade.
We ended up crashing back at No. 1's apartment and spent almost an hour ripping farts, cracking jokes on each other and recapping the night as we finally drifted off to sleep.
One hell of a night.

2) About two days before my high school graduation, I somehow got on this incredible natural high. It was like a three-day long adrenaline rush. Felt like all the answers to the universe's greatest questions were being unlocked in front of me, and the best part was I knew it. I stayed up until dawn of day one writing these deep, philosophical letters to several friends. Did the same thing on day two, and we had an all-night lock-in party at the YMCA after graduation where I stayed up the whole night.
I've never experienced anything like that before or since. Just that feeling of having all the answers at my fingertips was incredible.

 

Non-wedding/baby division, I'm really drawing a blank here. Some contenders:

Maybe the day my wife got her first job offer from a newspaper. It took two months after she graduated and she was really, really down about the idea that it might have all been for nothing, then she gets the call and offer from a paper she had interviewed with months earlier.

The day I took her up to Canada for the first time. It'd be hard to explain why that was such a big deal to her.

The day I was named Editor in Chief of my college paper.

The day in 1999 when my aunt called out of the blue and said she had Cubs tickets for the next day (I grew up poor and rural, so going to an MLB game was a once or twice a decade event). I saw Sosa's 60th home run live.

 

Wasn't my greatest day, still haven't figured that out yet. But one of them was all-star weekend of 1981 in Cleveland.
Got press passes in college, got to bill the room at the airport Marriott back to the small-town paper my buddy was a stringer for.
Sat at the press luncheon at a table with Youngstown Vindicator SE Chuck Perazich and his family. Daughter and I exchanged looks. Nothing more.
Picked a ball up at batting practice, a foul ball from Gorman Thomas in fact. Watched the game, watched a guy talking to the person to his right. As he turned to see the field, the batter swung and hit a foul ball behind home plate. Justas the writer turned fully forward, the ball hit him on his nose and he dropped.
After the game, we went to the post-game deal at the Hollenden House (Forgot about running into Bob Hope in the elevator earlier in the day). After a few pops, I had to go to the john. I'm standing in front of the urinal and (can't remember the order) Perazich and Thomas walk in...
After a few seconds of silence, Perazich turns and says "You know, my daughter thinks you're cute."
Thomas, standing between us, thanks him.
"Not you," he said. "The little guy next to you..."

 

I'm not sure I've had one. Which is weird, but also true.

 

Definitely the day I met my late fiancee in person for the first time.

She was all I expected and more.

 

June 8, 2009. I was coaching my nephew's Little League team and we were in a tournament for teams that finished in first place. Before each game (just like I have since my nephew was in T-ball in 2004), I would ask my players if anyone wanted to say the Little League pledge. For the first time, my nephew did it and I was so proud of him. After that I got to introduce the boys and say something about each one and I was so overwhelmed with how proud I was of my nephew, who turned into an amazing kid, I was speechless when it was his turn.

Little did I know then, that was his last Little League game.

And, May 30, 1997. The day I graduated from boot camp. Some time around week 6, I had decided I wanted to quit, but stuck it out after seeing a graduation ceremony. About six weeks later I had mine and seeing my mothers face made it all worth it.

 

I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it 'till my fingers bled
Was the summer of 69

Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard
Jimmy quit and Joey got married
Shoulda known we'd never get far

Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

 

Wow, that's a great poem. You should totally turn it into a song.