What I actually recall is in my memory because we were talking about it as it happened, and it was mainly a portion of a day. I was spending an academic year in Switzerland, in the Alps. My PE class that term was climbing, and our class of two was out, well, climbing. We had paused on a protruding tree while the instructor ventured ahead to prepare the next segment of the climb, so P and I sat on the tree trunk, enjoying the view, commenting that this was such a wonderful moment, and the only thing that could make it better was a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken (edit to add, and a mug of Cardinal beer, the beer in the two local restaurants). Because really, what is better than swinging your legs from a tree, looking out across blue sky, white peaks, and green valley, with a good friend, and a piece of fried chicken (with 11 herbs and spices). Still a great moment for me. (another edit, we would have to teleport in the chicken, the closest colonel was probably in Germany)

I too have many happy memories, most having to do with a family event. A standout memory has always been the day my baby sister was brought home. I was 8.5 years old, had an older sister so my new sister was 3rd child. My happiness was soley due to the fact that my dad would not be able to continue pointing me out as ”the baby” a source of annoyance to me. I was in third grade then. Years later I saw my third grade teacher who instantly remembered me and my happiness at gaining a baby sibling. Seems I shared my happy news with her many, many times over too many school days following this happy occaision. Happy to report all these years later, I have a great bond with this ’baby’ sister who grew to 5’8” compared to my 5’4”.

The day I married my husband. My sister/BF was my matron of honor, DH’s father was his best man, DH’s brother, fresh out of the seminary, married us, and both our wonderful families and our close friends were there in the church while I married my best friend. 42 years ago this past January 15th. At our following smallish reception at the golf club overlooking a beautiful, snowy, pine tree-filled golf course, we had one pianist playing romantic, mellow music while everyone enjoyed delicious appetizers and champagne. I’ll always remember that happy day!

Thanks for commenting, bpath. Your nice story reminds me of a childhood incident which while not high on my list of great days, was memorable. And a memory so vivid for me so many years later.

There was a summer camp I would go to for a few weeks each summer, from ages maybe 8-14. It was in an arid area (like most of the Southwest) that was hilly but not mountainous.

The camp's setting was away from most things but not all that remote.

There were wild boars in the area. The camp's food waste was "disposed of" by loading it into barrels in the flat bed of a truck which would then be driven up one of the nearby canyons and dumped on the ground for the boars to eat.

My tent counselor proposed an adventure. We would hike up to the "boar pit" before sundown, climb trees, and wait for the boars to come. On his signal, we would all shine our flashlights on the ground and enjoy the close encounter with the boars. He warned that we may be sitting in the trees for many hours and needed to remain silent, so that anyone not willing to do that should stay behind.

There were about 10 of us and we did the short hike and climbed two trees, with his instructions to use branches to sit on 10 feet or more above the ground. The counselor took a low limb so that he could detect the boars' presence.

We were seated on limbs for what seemed forever but was probably just a few hours. It was peaceful and quiet, and the stars were out, as always. Then unexpectedly a loud blood-curdling scream was heard, apparently from the counselor, and we all turned on our downward pointed flashlights. There at the base of one tree was the counselor, who had apparently slipped from his limb and landed in a patch of low-growing cactus that was at the base of the tree. What I remember most was that we all started laughing our heads off and needed some moments to settle down before climbing down the trees to help him up. We hiked back to our "tent" and spent some time picking needles out of him.

No boars were seen that night but it was an adventure.

I am fortunate to have had many "best days ever" that frequently are superseded by others. I've met my favorite racecar driver. I've traveled around the world. I've hiked the Grand Canyon. I've seen the Aurora Borealis in Iceland. I've flown in a fighter jet. I've driven on the Bonneville Salt Flats. I gave birth to my beautiful, kind, caring, funny daughter. I've camped under the stars at Glacier and Yellowstone.

But I think the one memory of a "best day ever" that I'd never want to lose, was the day I walked within the stones at Stonehenge, at sunrise. So many people say Stonehenge is trite, overrated, too small, too crowded, ridiculous, nothing special, etc. But for me, that was just... magical. Spectacular. Precious.

Elmer, th evening sounds like it had everything a kid would love! Nighttime, trees, spying, and a comical moment (for the kids, not for the counselor, although he probably laughs about it now, maybe.)

At my age Tomorrow is the best day, I look forward to remembering it ;-)

" th evening sounds like it had everything a kid would love! "

Yes, exactly.

I have been fortunate to have had many happy days in my life. One of them would be when I graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) degree. I had only a 10th grade education and I felt on going to university that I had come "home," and went on to get a Master's degree. Happy days.

More recently, as I was sitting on the couch and having a quick nap, one of my 21 year old granddaughters woke me up to ask whether I wanted a blanket or anything else to be more comfortable. Both of my granddaughters are kind, loving and considerate, and excel at university studies. More happy days!

this is an easy one for me. the best day ever was the day i held my newborn/adopted grandson for the first time when he was just 2 hours old.

Looking back, I can’t pick one particular day as the single best. I feel that my life has been a mix of ups and downs. Good and bad. Overall, I remember the good more. However, the moment I first held my newborns, and saw their beautiful faces will always stand out. Time stopped and I felt overwhelmed with love. This happened three times.

The first thing that comes to mind, and the best is the day, my daughter and SIL came over to tell me they were having a baby. No idea they would ever have children. I was the first they told, and I cried and hugged my SIL first. My daughter never lets me forget I hugged him first. LOL

Saturday

Lars, I have had many experiences of deja vu as you described. And they almost always are of something mundane, like standing at a file cabinet in a place I didn't know but would come to know in the future. I love when that happens.

I, too, have had many good memories. I think traveling when young can do that to you. Especially being fortunate enough to spend time in many national parks and also visiting European cities.

But for me, the best day ever happened 14 years ago. It was when I had my horse and people from two stables met together in the woods where we rode (300 acres) for a trail ride on a beautiful, warm fall day that lasted for hours. There were about a dozen of us altogether. It was so much fun. Friends, horses, beautiful fall weather. Just great.

Elmer, thanks for the great topic. It's so nice to hear about happy times.

Thanks. And my thanks to all the interesting contributions.

I'm reminded of such a claim by our DGS.

It was his first day at our Maui condo. His dad, another water pup, had showed him how to ride the waves at the beach. We had to physically separate him from the board to come in for dinner when he claimed, "This is the best day of my life!"

He was NINE, and it made us chuckle, but I'll always remember the joy.

So many great memories it’s hard to pick one single day that stands out but I can think of two or 3 (other than the usual family-related events).

One was my first rocket launch which I was responsible for building up the payload and managing the program itself. Of course it takes many, many people to conduct this type of event but the excitement and pride in that lift-off moment, not to mention seeing and hearing the rocket roar off the pad is something you never get tired of experiencing.

The other was my hike to Angels Landing in Zion National Park. I got up really early to hike there by myself. There were really no huge crowds in those days and it was a wonderful experience. Same with our hike in the Fiery Furnace in Arches NP which was ranger-led. Such fun experience DH and I still talk about.

Thanks, Elmer, for the fun topic.

First time I ever cried tears of joy. Daddy came home from being overseas (never having been injured). He served 22 years, so that was actually a miracle.

Not a whole day, but a special experience. I was diving with friends in a kelp bed here in Southern California. There were 6 of us divers in total, and we were visited by 6 soupfin sharks. They were harmless to us, but curious, as were we. Just magical.

Lot of happy days, lot of bad days too. One fairly recent good one, about a year and a half ago, finally getting to see the northern California redwoods. Walking in the drizzling rain, getting soaked to the skin, just magicial.

I was pretty happy the day I got married. I was also pretty happy the day I got my graduate degree. I was pretty happy when I first sat on the wall of the foundation on our new house.

The day I'd (currently) consider to be the best ever hasn't yet occured. It hopefully will before I'm gone so I can enjoy it.

I've had moments of joy and moments of sadness, but no memorable days particularly. I think I learned early in life to moderate my emotions to a somewhat level state.

" One was my first rocket launch "

Ah-ha! A rocket scientist, or someone with related abilities and skills. That's most impressive.

I once visited the Space and Rocket Center at Huntsville and had a fantastic time. They had docents wandering through the exhibits, approaching people and offering to answer questions.

A docent approached us not long after we entered and offered to answer any questions we had. This guy was a retired rocket scientist, an old coot of an engineer who'd started there in the late 50's and had spent his career designing rocket engines. He gave us a special experience of what, in essence, was a personally guided tour of the exhibits.

It wasn't a best-ever day for me but it was a most enjoyable one. I recommend it highly if you're ever in the area.

I think a common thread among many of these memories is that what ultimately happened was as much or more a result of serendipity/a special and unexpected outcome, and less because of being the result of the outcome having been planned and expected.

Hahaha Elmer...all of mine were planned!

I find that spontaneous happenings are the most enjoyable for me. I am not good at creating a good time on purpose.

We were sitting in a dock restaurant in Cozumel, Christmas eve, midnight... after going on a night dive around the sunken plane, then walking around town looking at the Christmas decorations...... eating a seafood platter, watching fireworks go off. The stars ..... the sound of ocean waves....

" Hahaha Elmer...all of mine were planned! "

Hahaha Annie, I don't think your answers had much in common with what many others have said, which is perfectly fine. Many of us have experienced the same days you mentioned were important to you, without them being a significant memory. We're all different. That was why I added the comment about what I saw as a common thread among several contributions, special memories from unexpected experiences.

I asked my wife if our wedding day was one of the happiest days of her life. She rolled her eyes and said "you're joking, right?" I feel the same way about it. Upon further discussion, we both found (not surprisingly) that many experiences that stand out for one of us, also stand out for the other.

Here's one day that wasn't 'best ever', but a milestone moment.

I'm eleven and a half. It's late afternoon in the summer. I've just come home from a long bike ride with my neighborhood gang. I'm standing in front of the refrigerator with a bottle of some cold drink. I'm thinking how happy I am -- how strong, capable, and complete I feel. The world is my oyster!

I remember it because a year later I'm a woman. I have to 'learn the world' all over again.

Elmer, thanks for the nice shout-out to our Space and Rocket Center and their docents. It is a nice place and highly rated among the various space museums, all of which have a little something different to offer. I know a couple of people who volunteer as docents there and they take their responsibilities very seriously and enjoy doing it. One in particular, seems to be able to pick out those who truly want to know more of the background.

I think I had a fun job. Hard work for sure, but something I truly enjoyed doing from start of a project to the end and I met some truly talented and wonderful people as well.

" able to pick out those who truly want to know more of the background "

I'm often like that.

The guy had a professorial approach to explaining things, which I say as a compliment. Because of that, I asked him about something I'd recently (at the time) read about, Operation Paperclip. I don't know your age, OutsideP, but this is something you may likely know the consequences of if not by name.

At the end of WW2, Operation Paperclip was the US Army's snatch effort to capture the rocket and aeronautical engineers who'd worked at Peenemünde on German rockets and ballistic weapons. The intent was to snatch up as many as possible and bring them back to the US, before the Soviets got them. We got something over one hundred folks.

These people formed the nucleus of America's rocket team. Boomers like me are familiar with the name Wernher von Braun. He was the handsome leader of our rocket and space programs through the 50s and 60s. What wasn't publicized at the time was that he had had the same role for Germany during the war and the same was true for many of the key scientists and engineers working for us during this period. He and his experts had important roles in the significant rocket accomplishments we had, including the Saturn rocket that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the moon.

Anyhow, our charming guide told us that the Germans were responsible for kick-starting our rocket program and that many had been department leaders when he'd started there in the 50s. He said that as far as he ever knew, they were mostly apolitical technical types who were motivated by the rocket and aeronautical work they could do.

A brief explanation, he had many tales to tell that were fascinating. Much more than I had expected to learn on our visit.

Elmer, when I read the things you and Outside have shared and how fantastic and important those days were and I compare it to what's happening today, I want to cry.

I think that unfortunately America's space program has, from the start, been more about geopolitical one-upmanship than about the science and wonder of exploration and discovery.

It can be seen at each point in time. The whole moon program was a Kennedy-created effort to attract attention. Had it not been that case that someone among his advisors came up with the idea, I wonder what would have ever happened.

Since when NASA spending was cut back, there have been Presidents of both parties, Congresses of both parties, and none of them were motivated to increase funding. There's no one group or individuals to point a finger at. So our efforts have limped along. Recently, much rocket building has been in the private sector.

There have been so many missed opportunities. Apparently the same as you expressed, murraysmom. I too miss the years of wonder and excitement. There have been a few "wows" from Mars landings, and from the satellite telescopes that have opened windows into the creation of the universe, but so much more could and SHOULD have been done.

Amen.

Elmer and Murraysmom, I totally agree. NASA/MSFC is one of many tenet organizations (and one of the larger ones) at our local military base. It grew out of Army Ballistic Missile Agency back in the early 60’s (maybe late 50’s) when the early rockets were being developed. Elmer, yes I recall Paper Clip, although I didn’t realize for a while that was the name of the project that started it all. I don’t mind telling anyone my age (76) to put things in perspective.

My first real summer job was working at NASA the summer after I graduated from high school and one other summer after that. My first assignment was to the Historical Office, which included the museum, which at that time was on base, and eventually grew into what it is now. I welcomed visitors, ran the projector, helped the guy who managed it and could just hang out looking at the ’special display’ room which wasn’t typically open to everyone. That was where photos of the Paper Clip personnel resided, as well as photos of dignitary visits (JFK was one along with a hard hat he wore and signed). I actually saw WvB a couple of times when I filled in for a secretary for a few weeks typing weekly reports in the main Historical Office, which was located in the Hq building. It was an exciting time for NASA as ecerything was new and in development. Good things to come for the most part.

Later in life, I did meet a few minor members of the original VB team. They were very unassuming and yet proud of the work they did. Some of my friends and peers who worked at NASA later also complained about the same issue you mention, Elmer, with the way management shifted gears. When they pretty much gave up on a working, reliable rocket engine to start from scratch on something totally new was puzzling to many there at the time, and to me and others on the outside looking at them. While there is value in improvements certainly, they seemed to throw away years of success. It hasn’t been the same since. Not until Elon Musk came along with an idea for reusable boosters (an idea which he tried to sell to us long before he finally got backing from someone else btw) was there truly a better idea that has actually worked well almost from the start. Yes there have been some failures, but such developments must be tested and you have to expect it to learn and move forward.

Very interesting, Outside. It sounds like your experiences because of geographic proximity to these bases as a kid and obvious aptitude for the studies provided you with an out-of-this world career of challenge, amazement and hard work. (Sorry for the pun). Lucky you.

I'm not sure if my description of the docent's attitude toward the Germans was clear. What he described was that when he started working with them in the 50s, he was like a wet-behind-the-ears novice who was suddenly immersed in a world of All Star major leaguers. He said he got more education in his first years of working with them than he'd received from his many years of grad school (and I think he had a PhD).

I wonder how the Cold War years and situations might have been different if someone in US government or in the Army in 1945 hadn't come up with the simple idea for Operation Paperclip. The brain trust would have gone to the other side (as many among the core group did) and the balance of power would perhaps have been slanted in the other direction.

Elmer & Outside - you might both enjoy the Stormbirds series of books written by Brian Kelleher.

I always like hearing about books people like. I looked into these and found that they are in the historical fiction genre. I like straight non-fiction but historical fiction, not so much. I've found after having tried a number of such books that with but a few exceptions, many books in this style are not for me. I like fiction that has a compelling story but where the setting or place in time is of minor importance. But thanks again!

I still remember the day that DD got accepted by a med school. DH and I were working on a rental house that we just closed, the 19 yrs old ran into the house screaming out the good news,, right there in that living room we were jumping for joy with happy tears! That moment was magical!

I'll bet that was a special day.

Was your daughter only 19 years old when a senior in college?

Yes Elmer.

Wow!

Truthfully, I think it was October 13, 1957, which was the day that I got Prince, my first horse.