There are different types of days.

There are certain days in one’s life that stick with you – you know, the traditional Hallmark type days: Graduations, Birthdays, Holidays, Weddings, Anniversaries, Funerals and the like. These days stand out on our wall calendar with special designation – little islands of celebration and remembrance spread throughout our year.

Then there are several hundred “just another days” that tend to fill our year. Many times these days just go by without any remark, and they get swept into a pile of other days and become unceremoniously lumped together as the past. These days only get referenced as “yesterday”, “last week” or “last year” and most of the time they tend to inhabit barren cubicles on our wall calendars. We know that they are no less important and no less necessary than those Hallmark days – but they somehow don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Every so often though, a “just another day” – a day that began like any other typical Tuesday, or Wednesday…routine, mundane and darn right unremarkable – just may surprise you. With a single action or word they somehow transform. They become something more, and they become so much more that they lose their designation as “just another day”.  Upon later reflection and analysis they get promoted to a new type of day – they become what we refer to as a “pivotal day”. A day that definitely didn’t set out with an intent to be different, but due to circumstances beyond its control it became pivotal in one’s life.

There aren’t Hallmark cards for pivotal days, because they are way too personal. There isn’t a specific sentiment that accompanies pivotal days, because they are too complex. And, unlike Hallmark days, pivotal days don’t always receive acknowledgement on our wall calendar – for they are rarely identified in a timely manner. It can take days, months, years, or even a lifetime to reflect back on one’s life in search of pivotal days; so, many times these pivotal days just go unnoticed and they remain unidentified for long stretches of time.

There are different types of days.

November 10th is a different type of day – it is a pivotal day for sure.

Today,  I am remembering and reflecting back on this pivotal day in our daughter’s life – which in turn has become a pivotal day in our family’s lives. 10 years ago I captured this moment on film and I had no clue at that time that this very day would in turn become so important.

This was the day of our very first parent teacher conference – the one that took place approximately 8 weeks after she started preschool. That conference changed everything, and really was the catalyst for our kiddo’s atypical educational path.

Everyone will experience days like this, but no two people will experience them they same way. Keep your eyes open, for you never know when one of those “just another day” days will end up being a “pivotal day.”