People on Reddit were asked: “What happened to you on the best day of your life?” These are some of the most inspirational answers.
1. Like music to my ears
Hearing the girl I liked accepting to be my girlfriend. It didn’t work out but I still remember I was the happiest dude alive, on top of the world. Before that I was so self-conscious but knowing that someone liked me enough to want to spend time with me in a relationship made me the happiest man and in general just confident with myself. Thanks to that though the relationship didn’t end well I don’t worry about self-esteem issues anymore.
g0n4crayloc
2. Now you’re really part of the family
My [girlfriend] has a little boy from a previous relationship, and over the last year+ I’ve become his step dad in all but legality. I was over at their place, and after having a great day of playing at the play ground and reading, it was time for him to go to bed. He was all tucked in, and I was talking to him about what we would do tomorrow, when he sat up, wrapped his arms around my neck, squeezed hard, and said “I love you.”
Yeah, I went and cried in the living room afterwards. Tears of joy, and love, and probably a bit of fear. But they were still good tears.
Osiris32
3. Just one look…
I was having a pretty [terrible] week at work. I don’t usually stress at all, but on this particular evening I was feeling stressed. I get home and put the key into my front door and unlock it. The first thing I see is my oldest child (about 6 months old at the time) sitting on the floor of our living room. She turns and sees me, opens her mouth with the largest smile possible and gasps because she was so happy to see me. That one moment literally made everything bad that had ever happened to me completely leave my mind.
MikePyp
4. Oh, what a wonderful life it is
The best day actually happened just a couple of weeks ago. My three year old daughter walked over to me while I was sitting in my “Daddy’s Chair”. She asked if she could sit with me, so I picked her up and put her on my left side of my lap. Then my one year old boy didn’t want to be left out and grunted for me to pick him up, so he went on the right side of my lap. After about 10 min my wife comes over and kisses me on the cheek and says, “you three look great together”. It was at that moment, with both of my kids and my loving wife that I realized how wonderful life is. I would re-live that moment everyday of my life. It really is the small events in life that make it matter, until my son not 2 seconds later poops in his diaper and tells me, “Daddie, I stinky” and smiles at me…way to ruin the moment son!
shadle2001
5. Grab the tissues for this one!
My son has mild Hemiplegia, it’s a form of cerebral palsy that only affects one side of the body. I need to stress that when I say mild I really mean it, for most things unless you know what your looking you would not know that he has any form of disability. His balance and co-ordination are pretty bad and from a young age as he missed all the normal times for doing things (crawling walking etc) we got worried and eventually found out what was going on. He always wanted to be doing what his big sister was, but more than anything he wanted to ride a scooter like she did, she is only 18 months older than him and they are very close. We bought him all sorts of different types, lean to steer, 4 wheel, 3 wheel, two wheel, ones with little wheels and ones with big bike type tyres. He simply could not do it and his alternating anger and frustration broke my heart every time he would try.
We went on holiday about six months ago, he was nearly six and the last time we had tried to scoot was 3 or 4 months previous and just like every time before after a couple of hours it defeated him. We went to a big superstore to grab some things while driving to the villa and my daughter spotted scooters on sale for 15 euros, we had give the kids 30 euros each as spending money and told them they could get whatever they wanted for the holiday, inevitably my son wanted to get one too and I braced myself mentally for the anger frustration and tears that were likely to come as we took them to the counter and made our way to the house.
As soon as we arrived the kids demanded I unpack the scooters for them so they could play on them outside while we unpacked and settled in. We got to doing all the normal settling in stuff and they took their new acquisitions outside an hour passed and my daughter came in, I popped my head out and asked my son if he was coming in too and he told me he couldn’t he was still practising. Another hour passed and we repeated the conversation, he came in grabbed a snack and a drink and then headed right back out.
For 3 days, every single minute we were not actively doing something else he stayed out there trying and for the first time improving, very very slowly but over the course of the days it was getting closer and closer.
On the 4th day we took the scooters down to the beach, there is a 2 mile long beach side walkway with a lovely smooth path running the whole length with a great ice cream place at the end. He persevered and scooting the whole thing, never giving in despite falls and scrapes and dragging his foot slowing him down constantly so he had no chance of keeping up with his sister.
He demanded we come back the next day and the day after, on our last day before flying home we promised to take them down for one last scoot along the beach, there is a couple of hundred meter shallow downhill section in one place on the path and he took off just before going as fast as he had ever managed, for the first time looking like he was actually stable, he got to the slope and like he had seen his sister do a million times he lifted his leg and balanced and just let the slope take him down the hill.
When he got to the end he slowed himself down and scooted back up to my wife and I with a smile so big it almost split his head in half, triumphantly he came straight up to us and said something along the lines of “See now I can scoot just like Jess”.
I don’t think I have ever had a single moment in my life that has come close to the pure joy I had right then, no other event in my life no matter how good has ever had such a singularly positive effect, the birth of my kids, when I married my wife, big milestones in my professional life, they all came with other baggage, fear and thoughts for the future.
That one moment, the culmination of his profound effort and determination, the unbridled joy he was feeling at the end of a quest he had been on for literally years in a life that had only lasted for five of them, it just floored me completely.
UtterlyBemused
6. I can’t even imagine what this feels like
The day I came back to America from deployment was the best day of my life. Looking out the plane window as it landed and realizing I was finally home was the biggest relief and joy I’ve ever felt.
vrishchikaa
7. The moment when you realize you have your whole life ahead of you
The first day after I moved out of my parents house. I woke up and started putting my pants on and thought “You know what? [Screw this]. I’m eating my Froot Loops in the nude, cause this is my house. MY HOUSE!” I strolled in to the kitchen, butt naked, and poured myself a bowl. I sat in front of the TV and watched 4 episodes of Family Guy. I thought to myself “I can dig this.” I then remained naked for the whole day, just eating food and watching cartoons. Glorious.
deesmutts88
8. The biggest sigh of relief
The first time we brought our daughter home. She was born at 23 weeks gestation, weighing 1lb 4oz. She spent nearly 5 months in the NICU, undergoing multiple procedures up to and including open heart surgery (and if you ever need a benchmark for someone at the top of their game, imagine the thoracic surgeon who operates on a human heart the size of a raisin).
I was there for the birth, and while it was probably the most powerful event of my life, it was actually kind of horrible. For the first few weeks every doctor told us, in varying levels of euphemism, just how unlikely it was for an infant of her gestation to survive.
The day they handed us her discharge papers and told us “she’s healthy enough to go home” was the best by far.
kemikos
9. The perfect summer day
I was 13, walking my dog before school my dad told me to change into old clothes and forget about school. It was a lovely Irish summer Friday at 25oC the warmth was perfect and we drove to our newly bought holiday house to work in the garden which had been abandoned for 7 years. We spent the whole day cutting ivy and grass discovering rusty junk hidden under all the growth. Drunk pepsi max, had ice cream and took me for a pub lunch at the local water hole. It was such a beautiful day by the sea.
Quail_eater
10. When you think that something might never happen and then it does
The first time my daughter and son said “I love you daddy.” will always be one of the happiest moments in my life. But the happiest day, was when my son walked for the first time, for the second time.
He was two when he was diagnosed with Guillian Barre. It took almost a month to figure out what was happening to him. By the time he was diagnosed, he had already been paralyzed from the waist down. For months he dragged himself everywhere. For a year he never walked. It took a year and a half for him to finally be able to lift his legs enough to go over the rug. At about 2 years he was back to walking. It took another year for him to learn how to run, jump and skip again. Now he’s 5 and completely recovered. He can out run me now! Which isn’t saying much.
leandroc76
11. Young love <3
The day I was hanging out with my crush. We were both horrendous at giving signals, so it was a little slow. Eventually I grabbed her hand while we were walking and she grabbed back. The smile on her face was the greatest thing I have ever seen.
ifckinglovecoloring
12. Someone reaches out and turns that frown upside down
I got hired to teach first grade the Friday before school started. I walked into my classroom and the room was a wreck, had no materials, and no clue what I was doing. My boyfriend showed up with a bouquet of roses and helped me put everything together. Then, we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant and he asked if he could call me his fianc. It was probably the sweetest way I could imagine a proposal and ever since then, even on my worst days (and as a first year teacher there have been plenty), I think about that day and it makes me feel new again.
mollylolly88
13. A moment can catch you off guard
It was just your average family game night and the game of the evening was Guitar Hero (2 or 3, I don’t remember exactly). My brother, his wife, their kid along with my sister and her kids were all at mine and my wife’s place. It was the newest rage, Guitar Hero, I mean. And, we were all rockin’ out.
Well, 2am hits and people are sleeping or nodding off. Things have definitely wound down. Except for my daughter and I. I can still see her in her pj’s jamming to a song and hopping up and down as if she were on stage. She and I played til almost sunrise and even though it was almost 10 years ago, it feels like yesterday.
Her being born was like love slapped me in the face. But, that night love was drumming to our beat.
TheWizardofEws
14. And suddenly you are free
When I found out my ex who would verbally abuse me and refused to leave me alone after the break up was going to jail, and that my opportunity to move out of state was actually going to happen.
VAGINAL_SPLINTERS
15. Fatherhood is such a special experience
When I was 6 years old I had a run in with testicular torsion, and there was talk of removing my testicles because the blood flow had been cut off for so long. My grandma fought for my balls, even though it was not likely I would ever be able to have children.
From losing my virginity to marriage at 24, divorce at 25, meeting a nice lady who has two kids that I adore, to where I was at 34 years old there was never a concern for birth control — it just wasn’t in the cards for me. There wasn’t so much as a pregnancy scare with any of my partners, until… I was sitting at my computer playing SimCity while the kids were at their dad’s, and my fiance rushes into the room with the dreaded “we need to talk”. Turns out she’s pregnant. After 7 years together, and zero birth control or concern she’s pregnant. It feels too good to be true, so I’m skeptical, buy 2 more tests… All positive. Pregnancy goes well and we have a heathy baby boy who… is… slowly.. turning purple. Off to NICU with my brain racing and thoughts that the doctors were right after all, I’ll never be a daddy. Thanks to some fantastic doctors and a great hospital my boy is off the respirators with no damage done the next day, he just didn’t clear his lungs out the way he should have.
That’s the best moment of my life. Having my baby boy, and taking him home healthy, and then… A year later I get a frantic call from my fiance as I’m walking into the office. “I’m pregnant”. Same thing, multiple tests, healthy pregnancy and then we get the voicemail from the doctor telling us the baby’s gender. As a family we go out to our favorite restaurant and listen to the voicemail… “It’s a girl”
I think that moment when I burst into tears because my family has nothing but boys, and I get to be a daddy twice is right up there with taking my son home.
Funny thing about kids, sometimes my son who is two now will run up and hug me out of nowhere and say, “Daddy! Found you!” and it always brings me to tears as I’m being squeezed by his little arms and think that it may have taken 34 years but I’m so glad he found me.
michaelnpdx
16. Like coming home
It’s not overly original, but the best day of my life was the day our son was born. Before that day, I had never been comfortable holding babies. I liked them, but just couldn’t quite figure out how to properly hang on to them. But the moment I held my boy for the first time, I could rest him on my forearm and felt totally at ease holding him. Yeah, that was a good day…
KiwiDad
17. What a dope day
Ate my favorite breakfast: scrambled eggs. Went to park with girlfriend. Got first kiss. Mom won a lotto scratcher, 20,000 dollars. Had favorite lunch: chili dogs. Got a new dog. Had favorite dinner: burritos.
hiddenwarrior
18. A true miracle
Years ago when my oldest son was 20 months old, he developed a high fever and was very lethargic. We took him to the emergency room at the nearest hospital where they ran some tests on him. Turned out he had spinal meningitis, and it was fairly advanced. The doctors prepared us for the worst by telling us “the next 24 hours are very critical.” We stayed at the hospital (they wouldn’t let us stay in his room due to the highly rate of infection spreading). All evening and night long there was no change. He had been unconscious for nearly 24 hours at this point. I had never felt so horrifically sad and helpless in my life. The pain of watching your baby slip away is indescribable. In my sleepless haze that morning I realized it was Easter Sunday…. the resurrection.
I was about to go to the cafeteria when my wife flew around the corner screaming at me to go to our son’s room. As I flew into the children’s ICU to “gown up”, I looked through the glass into his room. There were two nurses scurrying around with a bp cuff. An ivy ball formed in my stomach, and I opened the door. My wife was weeping in the corner. I bent down to look at his tiny little body with all these tubes and monitor wires stuck into him when I noticed his eyes had opened. I knelt down two inches from his face. Time seemed to stand still. His eyes shifted to look at mine and he ever-so-weakly said, “Hi daddy.” I laid my head next to his and just lost it…I made sounds I’d never heard come out me before or since. Just the full-on guttural release of unmeasurable tension and sorrow. He is 31 years old, happily married with two beautiful babies. I. Am. So. Blessed.
cactusmac54
19. And then the rest of your life begins. How exciting!
The honest answer was the day we found out she was pregnant. My wife and I waited to have kids (early 30’s) to make sure we had our finances in order as much as possible before bringing another human life onto the planet. We tried to have a kid for 16 months. Around the year mark we started going through testing to make sure everything worked and each of us checked out fine, the doctor gave us some recommendations that we followed for several months and it wasn’t taking. We basically got the point of just giving up hope and ready to move on (we didn’t want to do IVF) until May 2012 came around.
I came home from the gym that day, had a hard day at work, hard day in the gym to beat out the work stress and was packing up my lunch for the next day and told my wife that I was just going to shower and go to bed. She handed me the positive pregnancy test and said you may want to see this before you go to bed. I couldn’t believe it, we just hugged and kissed and enjoyed the moment. There was a wash of euphoria and happiness that washed over me that I had never felt before. I didn’t get much sleep that night because I just started thinking about what the world would be like in 9 months.
Aneides
20. You never know what an average day will turn into
Chose to go to a dive-bar just to get out of the house. Met a cute guy. Had an amazing one-night-stand but never exchanged numbers. Two days later, the plumber is fixing the water heater. Go to see if plumber needs anything. Guy I slept with works for my plumber! Too awkward to exchange numbers then and there. Job is complete and guy leaves with plumber – still no number. Later that night, find what I think is a parking ticket on my windshield. Guy came back and left his name and number on my car. It’s been 7 years: we’re married, have two daughters and a son on the way.
WhyBecauseISaidSo
21. Oh yeah!
I bench pressed 385 (my all time max) and got a nuke in Modern Warfare 2 in the same day. In celebration, I proceeded to consume beer and taco bell until I passed out.
Greg_Ostertag
22. Some nights are like magic
I had been single for two years, and my friend introduced me to a cute girl at a halloween party. We didn’t really hit it off at the party because I was so drunk (didn’t eat supper, drank entire bottle of wine).
Anyways, I found her on Facebook, and I apologized and said I wouldn’t of drank so much if I knew my friend was going to play match maker. So she agrees to go out with me on a date, I take her to the best pizza place in town. She was so pretty, she turned heads at the restaurant, I felt so lucky, but I was not sure if she liked me.
We leave the restaurant and go for a drive. So I have not dated in a couple of years, I want to kiss her so bad, but I’m so nervous, nothing is more awkward than being rejected when you try to kiss, and my lack of recent experience got me doubting myself. Who cares, I go for it, she smiles as I lean in, and accepts my kiss. Then proceeds to kiss me back, until we make out, things heat up really quick after that. After a couple of hours of that, I drive her home, so excited about the night, thinking it’s over. I get home and all my friends are there drinking with roommates, wanting to go downtown, I’m so excited gave everyone the brightest smile they’d ever seen on my face. The entire room lights up, party’s on. We drink and go downtown, I see friends that I haven’t seen since high school, many hugs, smiles, drunken conversations later. And I realized that this was indeed, the best night of my life, regardless what happens in the future, I can die a happy man.
[deleted]
23. One of the luckiest people ever!
I went to a charity auction, spent about $50 on raffle tickets and freakishly won their two top sweepstakes prizes: a titanium racing bike and a TV, and then at the end of the night I won the 50/50, an entire hefty bag of $1 bills. People were complaining it was all rigged. Never won a single thing since then. I guess I used it all up in one night.
Shaolin816
24. Sometimes other people can make the day special for you
So I’m a recovering addict, and no one in my family thinks about it anymore. So I’m in this group of women online, and one day last year, I posted that it was hard to not drink at thanksgiving, and posted a screenshot of my sobriety counter app.
Months later in February, I was secretly excited about the fact that I was approaching 1,000 days sober. I didn’t say anything to anyone though, because no one cared. Anyway, the morning of 1000 days, my husband (who was the only one who was really happy for me or acknowledged it), woke me up and told me to come downstairs. So I did.
And down there was a huge bouquet of flowers, three gorgeous bracelets, and a $150 gift card to my favorite local restaurant. It was from my girls online. They counted the days for me on thanksgiving till my next big milestone, and had it planned for months. I cried for hours. They took a quote and made a hashtag, and like 49 people changed their Facebook profile pictures to the quote.
It was the nicest, most loving thing anyone has ever done for me. I’d never met a single one of them either.
MotterFodder