Morning

When I decided to take half day off for my daughter's parent-teacher conference, I envisioned a pilgrimage to meet her class teacher. I made plan well ahead and booked the time slot as early as we were allowed. Perfect plan.

Only it wasn't. As it turned out, the conference was cancelled because the teacher had urgent family matter. I smiled. My wife smiled, too, when she heard that I won't drop my leave plan.

I looked her square in the eye. "I know I should spend the morning with our daughter, after hearing the common and repeated regret from many others that they'd worked exhausting hours through their children's preteen years and later, when they had the bounty of the time this work produced, their kids were gone."

We then started to go through the plethora of plans to celebrate this extra holiday. As my daughter picked the playground next to our previous home, my mind drifted back to the days when she learned walking and running there.

Within minutes of entering the playground, we were surrounded by a crowd of Japanese students who were having school outing. Which is why we need more than one plan. After a while, we headed to the public library right next to the playground. Oh great. Lots of lots of books, from fictions to science books. Another heavenly place to spend a morning.