I think I am the happiest I have ever been in my life right now
As I doze in bed, feeling my wife starting to wake up, the 6:30 alarm goes off on my phone.
I turn off the alarm and fold the futon that still holds the warmth of our bodies.
I go to wake up my three-year-old daughter, who is sleeping so peacefully in her bed.
She won't wake up easily, of course, so I lie down next to her,
sometimes talking to her, sometimes tickling her, sometimes playing music, but she's usually in a bad mood anyway.
(Though today, she woke up in a rare good mood!)
When I sit next to my daughter at the living room table, my wife brings me a hot coffee.
Breakfast for my daughter.
While drinking my coffee, I vaguely recall my work schedule for the day and family events,
while my ears pick up the news program playing on the TV.
When my wife asks, "What color lunch box do you want?", my daughter acts all grown up and says,
"Hmm, yellow today!"
"And the cup, the horse one?"
"Yeah! The horse one!"
Listening to that conversation, I finish my coffee and head to the washroom.
I wash my face, brush my teeth, and then go to the bedroom to change and get ready.
When I return to the living room, my wife is feeding my daughter breakfast while tying her hair with a rubber band.
"I want the pink rubber band."
"The one with the white fluffy thing."
"I want the heart pin."
After having her hair tied up with her favorite rubber band, my daughter is all smiles,
so I take her to the bathroom and help her change into her kindergarten gym clothes.
Once the three of us are ready, we wait for the kindergarten bus in the apartment parking lot.
In these five minutes or so, I share the changing of the seasons with my daughter.
"The flowers have bloomed."
"The weeds are growing."
"It's cold, it's cold."
In the meantime, the bus arrives, and after seeing my daughter off, I head to work.
When I arrive at the office and prepare for work, I pour hot coffee from the thermos my wife packed for me into a paper cup.
At noon, I eat the lunch box that my wife also packed for me.
*Only on days when my daughter has a lunch box.
When I finish work and leave the office, I send my wife a 'heading home' email.
"I'm heading home now."
"Good work!"
When I arrive at the station, I email her my arrival time at the nearest station.
"I'll be arriving at HH:MM."
"Take care!"
The same exchange every day, thanks to predictive text.
I open the front door, go straight to the washroom to gargle and wash my hands, and then go to the living room.
When I open the door, my daughter, my wife, and my mother-in-law say, "Welcome home."
In our house, ever since our daughter was born, we always connect with my in-laws via tablet video call during dinner.
*I'll talk about that another time.
As I change and sit at the dining table, my wife brings out my meal.
Thank you so much for always having a warm meal ready at this exact time.
While eating dinner, I ask my daughter about kindergarten,
listen to the conversation between my wife and mother-in-law,
(and sometimes mediate their mother-daughter arguments).
We finish dinner with my daughter's 'thank you for the meal' greeting.
"Let's say thank you for the meal! Put your hands together, thank you for the meal!"
After dinner, everyone has their own free time.
As I'm taking a shower and lounging around, my wife and daughter start yawning.
I hurriedly brush my daughter's teeth, help her use the toilet, and take her to bed.
We do our nightly 'goodnight touch' (hand-to-hand touch), and my daughter goes to sleep.
After watching the night news, I go to sleep too.
Weekdays are just a repetition of this, but I truly feel the greatest happiness right now.
There are many times when I feel down due to unsettling news, incidents, or troubles at work,
but with this happiness, I can keep looking forward, and I want to keep protecting this happiness.
I'm sure there will be good times and bad times in the future.
I wrote this down so that I can look back on the happiness I feel now whenever that happens.
I think I'll publish it on note so I don't deceive myself.