He slept in late, but I got up with Harvey and sipped coffee in the early morning stillness.

He eventually emerged from the bedroom with warm kisses and hugs for both of us, then got to work making breakfast.

We continued with coffee, watched cartoons on the couch together, and smothered Harvey with affection as he snuggled between us.

With the last sip of our coffee, we got to work at opposite ends of the house, washing and dusting and scouring and cleaning every inch of this modest, adorable, dirty little home we’ve built together.

Several hours later, after stashing the last of the cleaning supplies away, we took a few minutes to sit and nurse our aching joints and reassure Harvey we didn’t hate him because we ignored him all day, then showered and dressed and headed out to dinner at a new local favorite restaurant.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner and cocktails, with wonderful music and ambience, making post-retirement plans, discussing future vacations, fretting about our jobs, and sharing our lottery win wishes.

With favorite music narrating the journey home, we both expressed excitement to get back home to our little buddy.

After sharing exuberant reunited greetings with Harvey, we slipped into comfy clothes, lit a candle, made nightcaps, and picked a movie with Paul Rudd (a mutual crush) to watch as we all three cuddled together on the sofa.

All in all, a pretty perfect day.